That Curly Eyebrow
by SanjiSadness
Summary: The strings of fate swirl and twirl around us every second of every day, almost like a pair of curly eyebrows. From the day we are born, to our dying breathe, everything we do gives us crossroads. Some lead to good things, while others don't. Whether it's deciding to get a coffee, or meeting a new person. These crossroads can change your life, for better, or for worse...(Continue)
1. Prolouge

**_Join Raven as those strings are tested when she meets a waiter on a date with her boyfriend. The good, the bad, Raven finds out just how much those strings can twist and turn to make your life wonderful-or a living hell. _**

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><p><em>"Grandpa?"<em>

_"Yes my dear?"_

_"Why did you become a painter?"_

_"For the thrill of it."_

_"What do you mean grandpa?"_

_"Raven..."_

_"Yes grandpa?"_

_"Do you regret anything in life?"_

_"No. But I am also just a child, maybe when I am older I will do things that I regret."_

_"Raven, did you know a painters life is fragile?"_

_"Fragile?"_

_"Yes, a painters life is fragile just like their paintings. If even one scratch goes on the painting it's ruined, right?"_

_"Well yes."_

_"The same goes for a painter, if they make even one mistake, it could ruin their lives."_

_"Is that why you became a painter, grandpa?"_

_"Heh, something like that, yes."_

_"Are you going now?"_

_"Yes, I believe my time has come."_

_"I love you grandpa."_

_"I love you too my granddaughter. Never forget what I said, never."_

_"I won't grandpa, goodbye, I'll miss you."_


	2. Chapter 1: The Waiter

**Part 1: Ace**

**Description:**

**After Raven's date with her boyfriend goes wrong and he jumps ship, she is driven home by the waiter who served them. Meeting some of the waiters friends along the way, Raven becomes close to them all, even to go on a date with one of them. Later, a party is thrown and Raven gets to meet even more friends, but will the party be crashed by Raven's crazy jealous ex-boyfriend? And what will happen when he orders the Mafia to kill her new friends and a new romantic interest.**

**I do not own one piece**

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><p>She turned around on the spot in front of her mirror. Her short, tight, bright blue dress glittered from the light in the bedroom.<p>

"Perfect." She smiled happily.

The woman walked out of her bedroom and down the hallway, into the bathroom and walked up to the mirror. She started putting on the finishing touches to her face for the date. She put on a hint of mascara and lipstick, with a touch of eye shadow and blush. She was ready. Before she left the bathroom the woman took one last moment to look at her face. She had brown eyes and long brown hair that was hair-sprayed and done up past her right shoulder. She leaned closer to the mirror tog et a good look at her face. You could still see a hint of darkness under he eyes. She was glad the foundation covered most of that up.

It was then; a loud knocking sound came from her door. A male voice called out.

"Hey sexy, you ready yet?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'll be right out." She walked out of the bathroom.

Opening the door, she raised an eyebrow. "Wow, your actually wearing a dress shirt? It doesn't look half bad on you."

"You don't look half bad yourself, Raven." The man smirked. His brown hair was all slicked down with gel. Despite his rudeness and lack of manners, his firm and manly features made Raven's knees buckle. He was hot, ten out of ten for sure. But Raven was lucky she could find someone like him, under the circumstances.

"What are you smirking at?" The man put his arm around Raven and pulled her outside her apartment into the hallway.

"Nothing Griffin." Raven kissed him on the cheek. "Now let's go, our reservation for the restaurant start in five minutes."

Griffin thought about this, making funny facial expressions till he answered. "Haven't you ever heard of being fashionably late?" He pushed Raven against the nearby wall.

"Ow, Griffin my back!" Raven complained. She groaned, and then looked up at Griffin.

"Shut up." Griffin smiled as he leaned closer to her and pressed his lips on hers. He put one arm on the wall, the other around Raven. He kissed with so much passion it almost made Raven forget about how much of a jerk he was. It always came down to that. She hated Griffin, a lot, But he had so much passion and swayed Raven with his looks and his words, she always forgave him for his mistakes. This made Raven remember the first time she met him, six months ago.

She had come back from delivering to a customer. She was exhausted and decided to get a cup of coffee.

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><p>Raven got out of her car. She wore a black coat with a fluffy hood, blue jeans and grey boots. The winter air gave Raven chills; she hurried into the small coffee shop to get warm. As soon as she entered a blast of warm air blew her in the face. Raven sighed with relief and scouted the shop.<p>

It was small. Window's covered most of the walls and the smell of coffee covered most of the shop. There were only a few people sitting in chairs at tiny tables. Some had laptops or Iphones with them. The rest of the people were lined up at the cashier taking orders for take-out or on the go.

"There sure are a lot of people here for just a coffee shop in the middle of no where." Raven mumbled to herself. None the less, she got in line to order. Being the curious person she was, Raven got bored and began looking around. The person in front of her was a tall man. He had dark brown hair like her that went every which way and was slightly spiky. He wore a plain white tank top and saggy black jeans. She thought he was some kind of retard. It was the middle of winter, why was he wearing a tank top? Did he leave his coat in the car? In his hand was a phone and he seemed to be typing furiously on the screen. To Raven, he seemed kind of cute and was the only thing she was really paying attention to anymore. Soon it was his turn to order, his voice was slightly deep but he had a playful tone to it. It was a shame he seemed to be in a bad mood.

"Two double-doubles, NOW!" He glared at the clerk. She looked at him blankly.

"That'll be 3500 beli please."

"Here." The man threw the change at her. The clerk nodded and began to make the coffee till she muttered to herself about being out of cups and disappeared into the back room.

Raven stood there awkwardly, waiting for her turn to order. She looked up at the man in front of her and inhaled.

"That girl sure is taking a long time." She spoke.

The man turned around as if he just noticed her. "Oh yeah." Raven got a good look at his face. He had dark brown eyes and slightly thick eyebrows. His expression suddenly changed as he looked at her.

"Oh, _hey_." He smiled.

"H-Hello." Raven smiled back.

"The names, Griffin." He held out his hand.

"Raven." She replied and shook his hand. His hands were manly and big, while hers were thin and delicate.

Griffin turned around back to the counter. "Hey girl! Where are my coffee's?" He banged on the counter with his fist. A Rummaging noise could be heard from the storage room. "Hello?" Griffin leaned in closer.

"What is it?" Raven tried to look past Griffin. Suddenly, he grabbed her.

"DUCK!" A loud bang noise went off and the sound of glass breaking could be heard.

"What was that?" Raven crouched on the ground beside Griffin. He put his hand over her mouth and whispered.

"We-have-to-get-out-of-here."

'Huh?" Raven didn't understand.

Then a deep male voice screamed. "Everyone, get up!"

Raven began to stand, but Griffin pushed her back under the counter. The other people in the shop stood up, their faces were white with terror. Out of nowhere, in the blink of an eye the people began to drop down following a loud bang. Raven would have screamed if it weren't for Griffin covering her mouth.

"Listen." Griffin said with a very quiet whisper. "Whatever happens, do not scream or get up." Raven nodded.

"Anyone else?" The man's voice shouted again. Griffin got up slowly in response. Raven heard the sound of gun reloading.

"Really dude, robbing a coffee shop? LAME!" Griffin laughed.

"Shut up, you bastard!" The man's voice yelled. Raven covered her ears, ready to hear a loud gun shot and Griffin drop down, dead, like the rest of the people in the store. What should she do?

Then, she saw Griffin jump over the counter as quick as light. There was a loud bang noise followed by the sound of someone falling on the ground. Raven bit her lip. "That was it." She thought. "He's dead." She took her hands off her ears and heard a familiar voice mumble.

"I-Idiot...help me out."

Raven gasped and stood up. Griffin lay on the ground beside the dead robber covered in blood.

"Y-You got him. B-But how?" She couldn't believe it.

"Who cares, hurry, call 9-1-1." Griffin moaned. Raven noticed him holding him holding his side.

"Holy crap, your bleeding." She gasped.

"NO, REALLY? Call the police you moron." Griffin yelled.

"I forgot my phone"- Raven began, but Griffin cut her off.

"Just use my- Wait! don't call the police!"

"What? Why not?" Raven questioned.

Griffin tried to get up." Um- I'm fine, really." He wheezed.

"Your not fine, I'm calling 9-1-1. Maybe this place has an emergency phone, or maybe I can just borrow one of these peoples."-

"NO!" Griffin screamed at the top of his lungs.

Raven stared dumbfounded at Griffin. "Why? Are you a criminal or something?"

He turned away from her. "Just take me home. When we're on the road, then you can call the police."

She stared at the mans she barely knew. He had just asked to go take him into a car and take him home. What if he was a murderer, or a rapist? Should she just leave and forget him. This was one of the few choices that would change her life.

"Alright, come on." She said. Raven got over the counter and helped Griffin up."

"T-Thank you." Griffin turned his head away, his ears red.

"Don't mention it." Raven groaned as she lifted Griffin over the counter, then out of the coffee shop.

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><p>Since then, Griffin had asked her out and they'd been dating the past five months. During those five months, Raven had began to notice some strange characteristics of Griffin that she hadn't noticed before. She didn't really care <em>that<em> much. When she was ready, she'd dump his ass. But for now, it was nice having the company.

She remembered this as he continued to kiss her. His tongue soon crawled into her mouth and they continued to French kiss.

Raven tried to push away. "Not now Griffin, we should get going or we're gonna be late."

Griffin didn't answer right away. He continued to kiss her till he slowly began to stop. "Whatever, I can continue where we left off, tonight." He put his arm around here. "Ok, let's go."

The two started to head toward the elevator at the end of the hallway. When they reached it, a small button glowed beside it and the doors opened automatically. A boy popped out of the elevator. He had black hair that was slightly uneven in spots. He had big eyes and a wild grin. He wore a red sweater with a pirate skull on it and blue jean shorts with flip flops. On top of his head was a straw hat with a red ribbon around it.

"Hi there!" The boy smiled.

"Hey kid." Griffin said nonchalantly.

"See ya!" As soon as he appeared, the boy bounced down the hallway.

Griffin turned to Raven. "He live here?"

"How should I know? I moved in here three days ago at one in the morning and haven't bumped into any of the other residents since."

"Ok, ok, don't get bitchy. Why did you move in at one in the morning again?" Griffin asked.

"My line of work remember?" Raven raised her eyebrow.

"Oh right."

Griffin and Raven got into the elevator and rode down the first floor. "You hear about Kate?" Raven asked.

"Oh yeah." Griffin shrugged.

"Oh yeah? Your ex-girlfriend is missing and you say oh yeah?" Raven nudged him in the side.

"She'd not my girlfriend anymore so why should I care?" Griffin snarled.

"Guess you got a point." Raven looked away.

The rest of the elevator ride was silent till the doors opened and the two got out and headed for Griffin's car in the parking lot.

"Oh by the way, where are you taking me this time?" Raven asked as they headed out the front doors of the apartment building and outside.

"Some seafood restaurant called Baratie. We haven't been there yet, right?" Griffin opened his car door and got in.

"Well no, I did just move to Grand Line Town remember?" Raven got in the car as well.

"Ok ,ok Don't yell at me." Griffin growled.

"I'm not, stop being a retard." Raven snapped.

"What was that?" Griffin yelled back.

"Just drive." Raven turned her head, looking out the window.

Griffin started the car, and then sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, ok?" He turned to Raven and put his hand over hers. "Ok?" Raven looked at him straight in the eyes. Those dark brown eyes of a manipulating and abusive man.

"Ok." Raven tried to smile.

The silence continued as Griffin drove out of the parking lot and onto East Blue Street. Raven was about to begin talking to Griffin once more, but hesitated. Every time they talked it just turned into an argument. She decided to talk to him anyway.

"Are we going to your brother for dinner tomorrow?"

"Probably not." Griffin shrugged.

"How come?"

"We kind of got in a fight. If I tried to go over there we'd just start fighting. He also, kind of, kicked me out."

"What!" Raven gasped. "No way!"

"Way." Griffin stopped the car at a red light and sighed heavily.

"Where are you going to live? Not in your parents basement again, or in that RV." Raven's anger boiled inside of her. Griffin was so irresponsible.

"No, no." Griffin shook his head. "See, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"Oh great. Look, my apartment is too small. I can't possible let you."-

"I got a place out of town."

Raven was slow to answer. "That sucks. It's bad enough your out of town all the time for work."

"I know, but we've made it work so far, right?" Griffin grinned.

_"But we've made it work so far, right?"_ Those words rang in Raven's head. She and Griffin had been in lots of fights. If a guy ever looked at Raven the wrong way, Griffin would beat the living hell out of them. If Raven messed up a meal, or was late for a date, Griffin would scream his head off at her. She had said before that they'd been going out for the last 5 months, but really, it had been just going on and off again every other week of so. There were so much negative things about Griffin; Raven wondered why she even talked to the guy. Was it because she was scared? Was she afraid of being alone? Maybe.

Before she knew it, the car had begun to slow down and Griffin spoke. "We're here." He turned the car to the right and some bright lights blinded Raven for a moment. when her eyes adjusted, she was astonished.

"Here we are." Griffin smiled. "The seafood restaurant, Baratie!"

Raven gasped in amazement. The restaurant was huge and magnificent. In the dim glow of the night, the Baratie shined brightly. A fish head on one side of the place and a tail on the other side. It was a lovely three-story building, painted teal with red balcony. The parking lot was half full and Raven spotted a few fancy looking people entering the restaurant.

"I can't wait to eat here." Raven beamed with happiness. Griffin smiled back at her.

He soon found a parking spot and parked the car. The two got out and started walking towards the restaurant. As soon as they started getting closer, Raven began to smell the scent of delicious seafood. It flowed out of the doors as people opened them. The smell was so over-powering Raven was literally running to the doors.

"Hey, wait up!" Griffin called to her, but Raven was already inside.

The inside of the Baratie was even better then the outside. It was a gorgeous rounded room with a staircase in the center leading up to the second floor. Large beautiful windows covered most of the walls. The tables were scattered around the room, and most were filled with smiling people eating happily. One thing that Raven noticed though, was that she didn't see any waiters.

"What's the rush?" Griffin said he caught up with her.

"Look at this place?" Raven inhaled deeply. "Wonderful."

Griffin looked at her funny. "Whatever floats your boat."

The two continued into the restaurant together and went to a man standing behind a small desk.

"Um, reservations for two?" Griffin said.

The man looked up at him. He had a big face and a wild smile, with small little eyes and a shave head. He wore an apron, but wasn't working in the kitchen, which confused Raven.

"Hm, oh yes." The man stood up. "Welcome to the Baratie, you damn crooks. My name is Patty. Allow me to bring you to your table." He smiled his big grin and started walking away. Raven and Griffin followed.

"Hey, Krabby Patty, who exactly is going to serve us our food? I don't see any waiters." Griffin scouted the area. "Ye, no waiters."

"Just Patty, and we do have someone improvising for the lack of waiters this evening. He will come to serve you...hopefully." He lead them to an empty table and gave them one last crazy grin before he left. He ran off singing something along the liens of, "Motto, Motto service motto".

Griffin and Raven sat down. The table was set neatly in front of them with menus, napkins, and a lovely set of flower's in the middle as a centerpiece.

"Wow, they have a lot of choices. Many of these look hard to make as well." Raven smiled with excitement as she turned the pages in the menu.

"I guess." Griffin looked threw the menu for a moment then put it down with boredom.

Two minutes became five, and five minutes became ten. Griffin started to become frustrated, as the waiter was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn, where is that waiter?" Griffin muttered. "If he doesn't show up soon. I'm going to complain to the manager.

Raven looked around; surely the waiter was around somewhere. Suddenly she spotted him. He was far off, near the other side of the dinning room. He was in front of a table and wore all black. Raven thought for sure that he was a waiter.

"Hey Griffin, I think I see him." Raven pointed him out.

"Really, where?" Griffin looked around and spotted him as well.

"Should I call him?" Raven asked.

"Uh, duh. What kind of stupid question is that?" Griffin snarled.

"I don't wanna sound rude." Raven barked back. She turned towards the direction of the waiter and shouted. "Um, waiter, can we get some service please?"

At the sound of her voice, the waiter instantly zoomed across the room and right in front of Raven.

"Is that the sound of beautiful"- The waiter froze. He stared mesmerized at Raven.

"Um, beautiful what?" Raven stared confused at the waiter. "Are you ok?"

Then the waiters eyes sparkled, almost as if he had hearts in his eyes. "H-HEART MELTING, MY HEART IS MELTING JUST LOOKING AT YOU!"

Raven's face began to redden. "E-Excuse me?"

The man started spinning around in circles, so fast, he looked like a mini tornado. "GORGOUS, STUNNING, SEXY, EYE-CATCHING, STRIKING, ATTRACTIVE!" He screamed. The other people around the restaurant turned around to watch the man in bewilderment.

Then the man grabbed Raven's hand. His hands were warm and comforting. "Please Miss, I must insist that you come have class of wine with me."

Raven stared at him uncertain. All she could say was, "Uh- what?"

Griffin stepped in. He stood up from his chair and stared at the waiter evilly. "Hey waiter, how about you let us order, you know, instead of flirting with my girlfriend."

The waiter turned to Griffin as if he had just noticed he was there. "Oh, well, sure thing." He turned back to Raven and his face lite up. "What would you like to order my dear?"

"U-u-um." Raven still couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Up close, she saw the facial features of the waiter. He had blond hair that covered one of his blue eyes. He also wore a black suit and tie with a blue stripped undershirt and a cigarette in his mouth. She realized he had just asked her what to order, and she said the one thing that popped in her head.

"Soup. Yes, your best soup please."

"Yes sir, Miss." The waiter started spinning around again. He unexpectedly stopped and turned to Raven again.

"What was your name again dear?"

"R-Raven." She said quickly. This waiter was starting to freak her out. She was staring at his face again, when, without warning, she almost fell of her chair.

"Are you ok, Raven-chan?" The waiter asked with concern.

Raven stared dumbfounded at the thing that had caught her eye. His eyebrow...

"I-I'm fine." She mumbled. The man still looked worried, but he nodded and began to leave the table when Griffin called out, "Hey waiter. What about my order?"

The waiter turned to Griffin and given him a look, even worse then the one that Griffin was giving him. "You can have what she's having." He turned and headed for the staircase to the upper floor. "By the way, I'm not a waiter. I'm Sanji, the sous chef."

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><p><strong>So what are your thoughts? If you've read my original version, did you like this one better? Was it too long? if so, sorry about that. the first chapter is long but the others shouldn't be as long ^3^ I hopefully should be posting more quickly...maybe 3 chapter a week at most? We'll have to see..<strong>

**also in case anyone was wondering the character Griffin is also an OC and is not from any anime/manga/anything**


	3. Chapter 2: Bug Soup

Raven stared out the window next to her. The sun was slowly disappearing behind Cloud End Cliff and the moon was beginning to peek out. The excitement of the past event had settled down, and people we're continuing to eat their food in peace. Raven looked nervously at Griffin, he sat in the chair in front of her. He grumbled, his eyes darting around the restaurant. Raven sighed; she had a bad feeling.

Then, a loud whooshing sound came from the staircase, the next second, Sanji the sous chef stood in front of them holding a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"For Raven-chan, a glass of our finest wine." He poured a glass and handed it to Raven. She took it cautiously.

"Thanks Sanji." She sipped it, and a burst of taste exploded in her mouth. "Wow!" She smiled. "This is really good. Griffin, try some of this."

He glared over at her, "No thanks." Looking up at the waiter, Griffin glared with even more annoyance. "Hey, Waiter, where's our food?"

Sanji turned to Griffin and gave him a dirty look. "It's coming, wait 5 minutes will ya!"

"What was that!" Griffin began to stand up.

"Griffin!" Raven yelled. "Sit down." Griffin was reluctant, but he slowly sat down. Sanji gave Griffin one more glare, then turned back toward Raven.

"I would also like to inform you Raven-chan, that the soup you will be eating is one of my recipes."

"Wow, really?" Cooking fascinated Raven, mostly because she was horrible at it.

"Hmm~ Raven's so lovely when she smiles." Sanji's nostrils flared. Raven backed away slightly.

A man's voice shouted from the upper level, "Sanji! Put the finishing touches on your damn soup, you crappy cook!"

"I'll be right back with your soup." Sanji gazed into Raven's eyes, then walked off.

Raven was kind of freaked out. This Sanji guy was an A class weirdo, that was for sure. Though Raven seemed to see a bit of charm in his words, like he actually thought she was beautiful. But no, she wasn't even close. Griffin seemed to be taking it well, he was whispering to himself and scanning the floor.

"What's up Griffin?" Raven asked.

He looked up at her. "N-Nothing."

Raven stared suspiciously at him. She played with her hair awkwardly, "look honey"- She didn't want him to get angry. If he was in a bad mood now, he'd been in a bad mood later on, and Raven definitely didn't want that happening.

Griffin suddenly turned to face her, "What is that waiter's problem?"

"Uh- (_how the hell should I know)._ Look, maybe he was a little _inappropriate _towards me, and maybe he was slightly rude towards you. But it's your fault to. you know." She glared at him.

"How is it my fault?" Griffin said offended.

"Well, you sort of give off a bad vide to people at first glance, trust me."

Griffin rolled his eyes and leaned on his chair. "Whatever, once we finish our food we're leaving, no tip needed."

"Right." Raven felt a sweat drip down the side of her face. "_Thank god" _she thought, _he seems to have calmed down." _Raven loved Griffin_ (mostly) _but sometimes she was down right scared of him. She remembered the time when her brother had come to visit.

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><p>"Sis, look, it's fine. No one is going to come after you." Raven's brother lay on the couch in a house Raven once owned four months ago. Her brother was very handsome with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a clean yellow sweater and expensive jeans. On his feet were the best, and most trendy footwear for men. Raven was in the kitchen pacing, "Y-You sure?"<p>

Her brother sighed and got off the couch, walked over to his beloved sister and smiled. "Do not worry, my love. If any one comes, I will fight them off for you and for you alone." He then embraced her with so much love; it would make any girls knee's buckle. But Raven just rolled her eyes and pushed him away. "Ok, ok. You don't have to pull one of your tricks on me."

"What? Why not?" Her brother grinned and leaned on the cheap counter. "You ever consider calling up dad? He could give you a few millions and get you out of here."

She glared at him; "You know I'm not on speaking terms with dad." She sighed heavily, and then sat down on the couch. "How's your life? It's been a year since you've finished school. You still in touch with those club members of yours?"

Her brother sat down beside her. "Yeah, we just hanged out last night. We went to a _bowling alley, _which apparently is some type of commoners game place."

Raven smiled. "Yes." Her brother smiled back.

"Well, I should get going." He got up and stretched.

"Alright." Raven nodded nervously.

Her brother walked toward the front door and turned to face his sister. "If you ever feel- unsafe, just call me." He grinned.

All the sadness and fear she'd been holding inside escaped threw her eyes and she began to cry. "Tamaki!" She cried out and ran toward him. Raven swung her arms around him and cried into his new sweater. Her brother, Tamaki, sighed sadly and hugged her back. "Raven." He mumbled.

Then, the door opened with a bang as it hit the wall. Griffin stood in the doorway with flowers in his hand. His eyes widened as he stared at Raven and Tamaki. It was then that his eyebrows curved downwards and he yelled, "Why you!" Griffin dropped his flowers and sped at Tamaki. Griffin pushed him on the ground, Raven flung back in the other direction. She got up as quick as she could, but it was too late. Griffin had Tamaki underneath him and was beating him to a pulp. Raven's eyes become watery again, as she tried to stop Griffin.

"Griffin stop! Griffin!" She grabbed his shoulder and tried to knock him off her brother, but she got nowhere. He yelled, "Shut up!" and smacked her down to the floor as he snarled at her, "I'll deal with you later, you traitor."

Raven suddenly realized why Griffin was so worked up; she swiftly got up on her feet again and tried to help her brother. "Griffin!" She shrieked, "H-He's my Brother!" Raven screamed at the top of her lungs.

Griffin froze immediately and looked at whom he had just beaten up. "Y-Your brother?" He got off Tamaki slowly, still staring wide-eyed at him. Right away Raven leaped on her brother.

"Tamaki, Tamaki!" She cried out. A few moments later, he moaned in pain. This made Raven sigh in relief; at least he was still alive.

She cleaned him up and led him out the door. Before leaving, Tamaki gave her a hug and whispered, "remember, call me." Griffin had been hiding in the bathroom the whole time, but Raven was ready for him, she was done. She stormed in their once her brother had left and screamed off the top of her lungs that he was a horrible bastard and that she hated him. That night she got him to pack his things and leave.

* * *

><p>That had been their first "big" fight. To other people it would probably have been a break up, but not Raven's relationship. A week later, Griffin came back with flowers and chocolate and asked her for forgiveness. She forgave him right away.<p>

Raven looked over at Griffin again form across the table. She's wondered if tonight was going to end up like that one. Would she finally leave him?

It was then; Sanji came dancing toward them like a ballerina. "Here you are, Raven-chan." He bowed before her and lowered a bowl of soup in front of her on the table. "My prized soup, just for you."

"Thank you." Raven smile at him. Sanji moaned happily. Then he turned to Griffin, "Oh yeah, here's one of the other chef's soups." He blobbed the soup carelessly on the table ahead of Griffin

"Careful waiter, don't want to waste any food." Griffin mumbled.

"Oh, don't worry, I never waste food." Sanji glared back at him.

"Really? With a face like that, your sure wasting something- like oxygen."

"Eh? You want me to suffocate? It that what your saying you shitty-ass bastard,"

"The world would be a lot better without a retard like you around here."

"How about you say that to my face, asshole."

"Maybe I will!"

Griffin and Sanji were standing face-to-face, ready to fight each other to the death. When out of the blue, Raven made a small gasping noise. The two men turned to Raven.

"This soup. -" Raven beamed happily at the soup she had just tried. "I-It's fantastic, I've never had anything as delicious as this ever in my life!" She ate another spoon full, "Yummy!" She exclaimed.

Sanji spun in a circle and looked at Raven. "Your compliments warm my heart Raven-chan." He leaned in closer to her, "If you like my recipes that much, how about I make one of my desserts for you?"

"R-Really?" Raven had never had a free meal from a restaurant, and by the taste of the soup, she knew that this was one hell of a cook. How could you say no? "Sure!"

Sanji smiled wildly and bowed once more at Raven. He took her empty bowl and began walking back up to the kitchen, when Griffin called out to him. "Hey waiter! Is my dessert free?"

Sanji crooked around and faced Griffin. "Yours is not free."

Raven sat patiently at her table, waiting for her mouth-watering dessert. Unfortunately, Griffin's mood had gone from bad to worse, and by worse, she meant that he was doing nothing.

He just sat there staring at his untouched soup. His hair covered his eyes, so Raven couldn't see his full expression. She hoped to dear god nothing bad would happen tonight. She could deal with it if she got hurt. But here, in a restaurant, there were many people who could get injured if Griffin and Sanji started to brawl. She faced Griffin once more. Raven noticed something different. Griffin had a small smile on his face, almost an evil smile. He then bent over and went under the table.

"Uh, Griffin, what are you doing?" Raven bent down as well to glimpse what Griffin was doing. But as soon as she ducked down, he zipped back up and sat straight in his chair. He still had a smile on his face.

"Nothing." He grinned, "Nothing at all."

"O-o-ok" Raven looked away and stared out the window yet again. She wondered what Griffin was plotting.

"RAVEN-CHAN MY LOVE!" Sanji came running towards her table at full speed, while still being able to balance his desserts. He stopped in front of the table, a cigarette still in his mouth.

"Here you are my sweet. I put my sweat, blood and tears into this dessert, just-for-you." He bowed once more and placed the dish before Raven. She looked down in front of her and saw a delectable piece of strawberry shortcake.

"Thank you Sanji." She beamed. Raven thought she saw Sanji drool for a second there.

"No problem." He said, dazed. Sanji looked over at Griffin. "Oh, and by the way, I accidentally gave your dessert to someone else. But it seems you still haven't even finished your soup." He exhaled towards Griffin and a puff of smoke came his way. Griffin coughed slightly, then spoke." There's a small problem with my soup, waiter."

Sanji raised an eyebrow, "What problem?"

"Look closer." Griffin sneered.

Sanji tilted his head up and looked more closely at Griffin's bowl of soup. "Ah." Sanji frowned. Raven leaned in to get a better look.

A small, dead spider floated around in the soup. Raven wondered if it had been there the whole time. Was this why Griffin hadn't eaten it? Or did he put it there on purpose?

"I think I have to file a complaint." Griffin snickered. "I hope you don't get fired for this."

Sanji just grinned. "You and that bug have a lot in common, like how you're both sinking to the bottom of the bowl."

Griffin froze. Whatever plan he might have had, seemed to just have backfired. Raven watched in horror as he reached his breaking point.

"Screw you, waiter!" Griffin moved his arm across the table, and everything on it fell to the floor in pieces. He then punched the table with his bare hands, and it smashed easily.

Raven quickly got out of her chair and backed away. She didn't want to be even a foot near him, not when he was like this. Sanji stared expressionlessly at Griffin who was breathing heavily and giving Sanji the death stare. Sanji then bent down at the broken bowl of soup. The bowl was in pieces and the soup spilt all over the floor.

"You could have finished it if you took that damn bug out." Sanji said calmly. Raven noticed his hands shaking as he touched the wasted soup. "It took three full days to cook, not that you would care."

Griffin stomped on Sanji's hand. "What right do you have to talk to me? I'm the one with all the power! You're just some lame-ass waiter!"

"Can power…truly satisfy your hunger?"

"Eh?" Griffin clenched his fists

"I'm asking."- Sanji raised his head. He had a weird, scary expression that made even Raven back away some more. "Can it satisfy your hunger?" At that instant, Sanji did a handstand and began swings his legs rapidly in the air.

_"You really shouldn't do that." _ Raven thought, but it was too late.

Griffin dodged Sanji's legs and pulled out a sword from the back of his shirt. The blade was curved like a crescent moon and the handle was brown with a strange pattern. Raven remembered asking about it once, but Griffin just pushed it off saying she might have ADHD or something because she noticed the smallest things.

"You wanna go waiter?" Griffin swung his sword with arrogance. But Sanji dodged with ease.

"Hell ya, I'll cut you in two you bastard!" Sanji raised his leg, and to Raven's surprise, was able to knock Griffin's sword out of his hand.

_"He must have some strong legs."_ Raven thought to herself. She'd never seen anyone stand ten seconds in a fight with Griffin. Sanji wasn't doing half bad, but Raven knew what was next. "Heh, all bark and no bite." Sanji stood there and snickered. "Time to pay for your meal, with your life!" the cook did a cartwheel, only he turned his leg slightly and was about to kick Griffin upside the head. When Raven heard the sound of clothes ripping and Sanji stepped back at the last second.

By now, every customer in the restaurant was watching. Some customers watched in horror, others in amazement. Raven even heard a few whispering.

"That's Griffin."

"Yeah, the son of the mafia chief."

"But that waiter looks like he has the upper hand."

"Yeah, but."-

"Mafia." Raven tried to remember if Griffin ever mentioned being the son of the mafia chief or something, but nothing came up. She looked back at the two men fighting.

Griffin grinned, a new sword in his hand as he watched the waiter, "I almost had your leg there." He laughed.

Sanji stumbled a little. Near his knee a small rip in his pants could be seen followed by blood. He acted casual, "Whatever, just a scratch. Thought you could do better then that, you small fry." Once again, Sanji ran toward Griffin and then cart wheeled. Only this time, as he turned his leg slightly to hit Griffin in the head, he lowered his leg in an instant and hit Griffin on the left side of his chest. Griffin flew back and his sword fell out of his hand. The fight was over.

"Don't ever, waste food."

Sanji stood there, one hand in his pocket, the other gripping Griffin by the neck. Blood dripped to the messy floor underneath them.

Raven sat there on the ground, frozen. Her boyfriend had just been beater. Most girlfriends would cry, or demand them to let Griffin go. But Raven just sat there, unsure of what to do. Leave? Help? Secretly, she was kind of relieved.

It was then that the host who had led Raven and Griffin to their tables appeared from the bathroom. As soon a he noticed Sanji and Griffin, he flipped.

"Sanji! Not again! What are you doing to our customers this time?" He began to walk over to Sanji.

"Shut up, you damn cook." Sanji gritted his teeth.

"Huh? What did you call me?" Patty stomped closer. "Let our customers go! Why do you have to do this everyday?"

"Be quiet! He wasted food and was pissing me off, so I taught him a lesson." Sanji glared at Griffins bloody face for another moment, then dropped him.

"How dare you!" Griffin mumbled and coughed up blood. "I know people, you know. I'll get them and make them shut down this retarded restaurant!"

"Then.."- Sanji took a step closer, "I better finish you off now."

He was about to pounce at Griffin when Raven realised that there were other chefs around watching. They quickly grabbed him and tried to pull him away. He struggled and cussed constantly.

Then, there a loud banging noise came from above them on the second floor. It broke and an old man and kid came falling throw. The old man was short and had his beard tied in two braids. He wore a chef uniform, only his chef hat was a lot longer then the others.

"This isn't the grocery store! Get out of here you brat!" He gave the boy a kick with his one peg leg, and sent the young man flying. He landed right in front of Sanji. When the boy stood up, Raven noticed he had black hair and a straw hat. She recognized it was the boy her and Griffin had seen in the elevator at her apartment.

Sanji seemed to know him; his eyes became wide with confusion. "L-Luffy?"

The boy named Luffy laughed, "Oh, Sanji. What are you doing in the grocery store?"

"HUH?"

* * *

><p><strong>So chapter 2... yeah so I have about the first 19 chapter or so on usb so im gonna post about 10 or so tonight and the rest sometimes later ^-^ Also in case any of you were wondering "Tamaki" is Tamaki from Ouran Highschool host club.. so yeah its kind of a crossover..but its only minor so its fine. and fair warning there might some other B list characters from other animes in here but if you haven't seen the anime that their from its fine don't worry 3<strong>


	4. Chapter 3: The Moss Haired Man

That boy was definitely the one Raven had seen in the elevator before, but why was he here?

"Uh, Luffy." Sanji pushed away the cooks who were trying to restrain him, and walked up to the boy. "This is not a grocery store."

"It's not?" Luffy looked around. He saw all the customers look at him strangely. He turned back to face Sanji. "Then where am I?"

Sanji put his hand in his pocket, and then bent down slightly to Luffys height, his cigarette pointed up toward the ceiling as he talked. "This is the Baratie. You know, the place I've worked at since the day you met me."

Luffy looked around again. "Oh."

"Why are you here? Why did you fall from the ceiling and why did you think this was a grocery store?" Sanji asked.

"Oh, well, Ace kicked me out, so I went over to your apartment to hang out with Zoro. Then we got hungry after a little while, but there was no food. So we went out to go buy some." Luffy smiled.

"Alright... but who was going to cook the food you bought?" Sanji smirked.

"We were gonna wait till you got back. But on our way to the grocery store, I got separated from Zoro. Luckily, I smelt the scent of meat. So I thought this was the grocery store. Then I went up to the second floor and asked old funny hair guy where the meat section was. We got in a fight and fell threw the ceiling again. Then I met you."

"Yeah- that makes lots of sense." Sanji stood upright and sighed. Then turned to the short guy in the tall chef hat. "Hey geezer, can I take Luffy home?"

The old man grunted. "Yeah, him and you are making a mess of my restaurant. You're also both paying for the ceiling repairs."

Sanji nodded and sighed heavily, then turned to Raven who was still sitting on the restaurant floor. "My dear, Raven-chan. It seems that your man has jumped ship."

"What!" Raven gasped and looked around. Griffin was nowhere to be seen. She got up and looked out the window. Griffin's car was also gone. He must have sneaked out when no one was looking and took off in his car, leaving Raven by herself. What was she suppose to do now? She had no ride. Unless…

"Raven-chan, I must insist that you take my offer and let me drive you home." Sanji held out his hand.

Raven backed away from it, but agreed. "I-I guess" She tried to smile, and Sanji made the most perverted grin of the night.

"OK, let's go!" Sanji put his arm around Raven and walked to the door. She tried to get out of his grip, but it was no use.

"Come on Luffy!" Sanji called out behind him.

"Coming!" Luffy bounced up to them. "Once we get home, can you make me something to eat?"

"So are you, Luffy and this Zoro guy best friends or something?" Raven asked. She sat in the passenger seat of Sanji's car. Luffy was bouncing around in the back while Sanji drove quietly. Raven wasn't good with cars, so she didn't know what type it was, but it had leather seats and smelt of seafood and cigarettes.

"No, no. We have lots more friends." Luffy grinned. "There's a guy with a long nose. His name is Usopp. He works at the lab."

"You mean the one in his basement. Lucky his house hasn't exploded." Sanji rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, he lives with his girlfriend. She's a doctor at the hospital. Then there's a girl named Nami, she likes money and tangerines. She works at the for cast place." Luffy made a puzzled look. "I mean for cats, no for carrots, no."

"Forecast?" Raven corrected him.

"Yeah. That."

"Ahhh Nami~ I love waking up every morning and seeing her on the T.V." Sanji smiled dreamily.

Luffy continued, "She lives with her sister, Nojiko."

"Hmmm~ Nojiko." Sanji turned the corner.

"There's also a reindeer who's a doctor and a guy named Franky who lives with our other friend Robin."

"Wow. You guys have lots of friends." Raven tried to sound happy about it, but deep down she was jealous. She'd never had many friends. Not since she became a

Professional artist.

"Well, those are our close friends anyway. We basically know everyone around town." Sanji turned to Raven. "What's wrong?"

"Uh- nothing, it's nothing. So, where do you think your friend is?" Raven tried to change the subject.

"He could be anywhere in town. That moron has a horrible sense of direction." Sanji rolled his eyes. "Luffy, do you know where you saw him last?"

"Hmmm." Luffy rubbed his chin as if he had a goatee. "Last time I saw him was at the gas station."

"Ok, let's check around there." Sanji turned the corner again. Smoke from his cigarette flew out the window that he'd rolled down.

"Isn't it illegal to smoke and drive around here?" Raven shook her head in disappointment.

"Not sure, I think that only applies if children are in the car too." Sanji shrugged.

Raven pointed to the back seat.

"Well, yes. I guess he is qualified as a kid. But I've never been caught so I guess it's ok." He grinned.

Raven doubted that. She noticed that he'd been smoking ever since she met him. Which was about half an hour ago. Did he ever not smoke? Was he a chain-smoker like Raven had seen on T.V who died of lung cancer? This made her remember her grandfather. Every picture from her memory of him he was smoking. She told him to quit countless times, but he'd always say, _being a great artist can come with horrible consequences. I know this, and if smoking kills me, I'm fine with that. _It did too, four years later he died of lung cancer at the age of seventy-two, just when Raven was a small child.

Raven sighed. Remembering her grandpa always made her sad. She looked out the window; they seemed to be passing a high school. Raven watched as it went bye. She caught some detail to it. It had red brick walls and vines crawling around the front of it. It had two floors and covered most of the property. Then she noticed something odd. At the top of the high school she thought she saw more vines up there as well.

"Uh, Sanji." She looked behind her to try and catch the high school as it went out of sight.

"Yes Raven-chan?"

"What does your Zoro friend look like?" She asked.

"We, he has ugly, green, mossy hair. A wide forehead."-

"Three swords?"

"Yeah, wait- how do you know?"

"I think that was him over there." Raven pointed out the window. "At the high school."

"Huh?" Sanji made a U in on coming traffic and drove toward the high school. He too, saw a small green colour on the roof of the high school. "You have _got _to be kidding me."

"OI! Marimo!" Sanji shouted. He stood beside the Redline High School, trying to spot Zoro.

"You sure he's there?" Luffy turned to face Raven; he had just been playing with a toy car he'd found in the field.

"Yes, well, I think I did." Raven looked up. "I'm positive I saw _something_."

"Yeah Luffy. If Raven-chan says she saw something, that means that she did." Sanji frowned at Luffy.

Raven was beginning to feel hesitant, till she finally heard a voice calling from the high school roof.

"Huh? Who's there?"

"It's us! You retard!" Sanji shouted back.

A face popped out from atop the high school. It was just like Sanji had said. Zoro had bright green hair. Raven had never seen anyone like that, was it natural or dyed? He also had three gold earrings on his one ear. Zoro jumped down and Raven saw that he had a black pair of jeans on and a blue tank top. The other thing Raven had noticed was that he had three swords on a belt around his hip. That wasn't something you see a guy having about now in days. The first person Zoro spotted was Raven.

"Who's the hot chick?" Zoro pointed casually.

"I don't think so Zoro. Don't go making passes at her. It's bad enough you do it to Nami-swan 24/7." Sanji yelled at him.

Zoro just rolled hi eyes and walked over to Raven. "Name's Roranoro Zoro. I run a dojo down town around here."

"Great, now he's getting her with his pick up lines." Sanji grumbled and crossed his arms.

"Oh, yes. I think I saw that place." Raven smiled.

"Well, it is one of the only dojo's in town. Kind of out of place." Zoro shrugged.

"To run a dojo, you must be pretty skilled with a sword, or should I say three." Raven glanced at Zoro's swords.

"I do the three sword style."

"Wow. And you're only, what, twenty?"

"Nineteen."

"Amazing." Raven thought swordplay was another interesting trait to have. It was one of the reasons why she liked Griffin. She tried getting that thought out of her head.

"Ok, ok. Can we please go?" Sanji mumbled angrily, he hunched over like a hunchback with his arms still crossed.

"Yeah! I'm starving!" Luffy dropped the toy car and ran for Sanji's car.

Raven and Zoro continued to talk as they walked to the car. Sanji glanced over at them with jealously and sighed heavily. He got in the car and started it. He thought to himself, _Wonderful, just wonderful, a hot girl who isn't my friend and POOF. Gone in a puff of mossy smoke. _He did up his seatbelt; _they're probably even going to sit in the back seat together._ Sanji put out his cigarette then threw it on the school grounds. It didn't bother him much. They're already were dozens of them on the ground. He remembered his time here too, at this high school, till of course, he dropped out.

"Hello! Can we go?" Zoro yelled.

Sanji looked around. Zoro and Luffy were already in the back seat waiting, while Raven sat in the passenger seat, looking at him strangely. Had she seen him throw the cigarette on the grounds?

"R-Right. Sorry." Sanji switched the gear to drive, "Let's go home." They drove out of Redline High School and Sanji realized something.

"Uh, Raven. Where do you live?"

Raven made a surprising face as if she too, had just realized the problem. "Oh, right. I live in Louge Town Towers, East Blue Street.

At first Sanji just nodded and began to drive, about five seconds later it hit him and he choked on air.

"W-Wait! Did you say Louge Town Towers?"

"Yeah, why?" Raven titled her head in confusion. Sanji thought it was cute.

"That's where we live." Zoro leaned in between them.

"We?" Raven looked around. "Do you three live together?"

"Luffy lives with his brother, but me and Zoro live together." Sanji said it with a grumble. He saw that Raven was looking at him funny. Then he knew why, "We live together, but we don't live _together._" Sanji made sure Raven became aware of that. "I'm not gay." He added in.

Zoro rolled his eyes as Raven chuckled. He leaned back in his seat. "Still, how long have you lived in Louge Towers?"

"Um." Raven wondered how she should answer this. Should she lie? Should she tell the truth? When in doubt…

"I just moved in a few weeks ago." (Tell the truth, but not all of it)

"Really? Then why haven't I seen you around, or better yet, what floor are you on?"

"I live on floor… eighteen." She had a hunch about what was about to happen.

"No way! That's the floor we live on!" Sanji giggled like a teenage girl. "What number are you?"

"Twenty-six"

"What! They live in thirty-four. You guys live on the same floor." Luffy exclaimed. "And you guys have never meet each other before. Wow."

"Yeah…" Zoro turned his head and looked out the window, thinking.

Raven didn't like thinking. She'd thought this Zoro guy was kind of cool, but maybe he was a little _too _smart for her taste.

"Well, we're here now." Sanji turned the car into Louge Town Towers parking lot. Raven looked up at the apartment building she currently lived in. For an apartment building, it was pretty clean looking. It was light blue; each floor had a small balcony with two wood chairs and a small table. The balconies were white with a spiral design. The ground around the building was well cared for. _I did pretty well this time, _she thought to herself. Raven had lived in worse places before, way worse.

Sanji parked the car as close as he could and everyone got out. Together the four of them walked up to the building. Raven hoped no one asked any more questions about her. They didn't need to know her whole back-story. It would only hurt them to know…

Sanji was tired. He worked about five to six days a week. Usually from 12pm to 12am with no break. He fought at his work almost all the time. Which made him even more tired. His roommate trashed the place, used his things, took long ass showers, ordered expensive movies from the T.V and computer, never made a meal on his own, put his half empty beer bottles everywhere, didn't even clean his own room, and invited strange people over without asking. Not only was Sanji tired, he was lonely. He hadn't had a steady girlfriend in years. He didn't even want to bring up his empty sex life. Even his friends that were girls didn't snuggle up to him. If he did find a girl, his roommate would just tell her something gross or embarrassing about him to make her run off. His life sucked, big time.

Until the moment he saw Raven. When he saw her, he was as awake as ever. He didn't feel lonely or depressed. In fact, he felt flat out horny (t.m.i?) when he first saw her. She was a beauty. Even in the elevator he couldn't stop looking at her. He felt so good inside when she looked at him. He felt good just standing beside her. Sanji wanted to just pick her up and carry her away to paradise. He imagined this…

_"Oh Sanji, your so manly."_

_ "Raven. I love you."_

_ "Sanji, I love you too, kiss me!"_

"Sanji hurry up, the elevator doors are going to close."

Sanji shook his head out of his imagination and wiped the drool for his mouth. He quickly stepped out of the elevator before the doors closed. "Thanks Luffy."

"No problem."

They walked down the hallway. The floor was a dark wood with a blue rug. Once in a while you'd see a plant or two beside each door.

"Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!" Luffy zoomed down the hall. "Meat! Meat! Meat!" Sanji just rolled his eyes.

"I guess this is my stop." Raven stood at door twenty-six and smiled.

"See you around, Raven." Zoro waved then walked off. But Sanji wasn't done.

"Now that we know where we each live, maybe… you … could stop by sometime?" He shrugged. His hands became sweaty in his pockets.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Raven grinned. Sanji swore he felt his heart skip a beat.

"Ok…" Sanji wondered if he should ask her out right now, but what about the other guy, the one who ran off? "Well, bye." He said awkwardly

"See you later." Raven gave him one more grin, and then closed her door. Sanji stood there for a little longer then he should have, then walked down the hallway to his apartment and opened the door.

"Hmm~ Raven-chan is so perfect." Sanji twirled around as he took of his shoes in the doorway.

"Food! Food!" He heard Luffy scream in the kitchen.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool." Zoro said nonchalantly. He was already in the living room that was directly left of the front door. The front hall separated the living room by three small stair steps. It had a 60-inch flat screen T.V and a huge couch that could hold five people, which came with a coffee table just as long. As well as two love seats beside it. Zoro slammed on the couch and pulled the remote out from one of the cushions as he flipped threw channels.

"Is that all you think about." Sanji walked over to the couch and sat at the other end.

"Butt out, eyebrows." Zoro continued clicking the remote.

"Hmf." Sanji got up and stomped away. He knew Zoro liked Raven. Which meant he was probably going to do something sneaky to try and get her first. Sanji was ready for it. He wanted Raven badly. More then he ever wanted a girl, well besides Nami. He'd wanted to date her ever since elementary school. Nami never showed any signed of liking him back, so after about twelve years he kind of gave up. He was still crazy about her though…

"Hurry Sanji! I'm starving!" Luffy twirled around on the bar stools and banged on the marble counter.

Sanji's kitchen was a lot smaller then he liked, but at least the appliances were nice. It sucked that they had no real dinning room though. Everyone just ate at the counter on the stools, or in the living room. He pushed this thought away and looked at Luffy.

"But you guys didn't even get grocery's. We don't have much." Sanji looked in the fridge.

"Pleas-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-e Sanji." Luffy gave him the biggest puppy dogface possible for a human being.

Sanji tried to look away, but it was too late. "Fine."

"Hooray!" Luffy jumped up and down on the stool and accidentally jumped too high, going threw the floor above them.

"Only the amateurs fall for the face. Idiot." Zoro shook his head in disappointment.

"Shut up." Sanji ran out the door, he heard Luffy screaming all the way to the elevator.

"Zoro is paying for the hole in the floor this time. I paid for the broken shower, bed, and exercise equipment." Sanji sighed heavily.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey ^-^ 3<strong>


	5. Chapter 4: Zoro's date

Zoro stood in a field. It was wide but empty, and the small breeze made his hair move ever so slightly. The field had barely any grass and seemed to go on for miles and miles. In front of him was a small swing set with wooden seats. They rocked back and forth slowly as the wind blew. Zoro couldn't see anyone else in field, but he felt a presence. Almost as if someone was invisible, like a ghost. He looked down. In his hands were two swords with black handles.

"Not this dream again." Zoro complained. But instead of his usual deep voice, a small squeaky one came out of his mouth instead. That's when he realized that he was ten again. Standing in a field with two swords, ready to fight. Just like that day long ago.

Zoro woke to the sound of Sanji's alarm. Zoro turned over in his bed. He pushed his sheets off of him due to the fact that he was covered in sweat. He looked up at his ceiling and sighed heavily, closing his eyes. Suddenly he remembered that he was going to steal Sanji's dream girl away and crush his dreams today, so he jumped out of bed and out of his room. He ran across the hall in his boxers and nothing else and crept into Sanji's room.

Unlike his own room, Sanji's room was neat and tidy, and slightly larger. Sanji's bed was slightly to the left of the room and had dark red covers with white pillows. He had a dark wood floor and dark red walls that matched his covers. To the left wall was a closet. From the outside it looked like an ordinary closet. But it was actually a huge, walk-in closet. The old owner of the apartment was a shop-o-holic homosexual who got permission from the landlord (Who is also a tranny) to "extend" the closet. When Zoro moved in he didn't even know it existed, till Sanji moved in with him and found it on the first day.

Zoro ran on tiptoes over to Sanji's bed. He lay there, spread out all over the bed and drooling like a fool. Zoro stretched his hand over to the alarm and turned it off. Sanji rustled in his sleep and turned over. He reached out his arm and pressed the snooze button at the top of the alarm, then went back to sleep.

Zoro froze, not moving till he knew Sanji was back asleep. Then began to leave the room with an evil grin on his face. On his way out, something caught his eye.

On the right wall of the room, next to the window was a desk and chair with a laptop on the desk. It was unlocked so his background glowed in the dark room.

It was a picture that took Zoro a few seconds to remember where it came from, but once he remembered, he was kind of astonished. It was from the high school prom. Right in the middle, smiling brightly in an amazing red dress was Nami. Her hair was up, beautiful and curly. She had sparkly make up on that made even Zoro stare at her for a few moments. In the background behind her was a dance floor. He spotted some other familiar faces. Zoro saw Vivi dancing with Koza to the left. Usopp was farther away in the picture on the stage. Zoro remembered him falling off that night.

More to the right of the picture dancing with Tashigi was none other then Zoro himself. He had a silky green dress shirt on and black pants. Beside him Tashigi wore a long purple dress in her hair was a single lily. He remembered giving it to her before the dance. He saw it in his pond at his dojo and thought of her.

Sanji began to stir in his sleep again. Zoro shook his head and came back to reality, then sneaked out of the room and closed the door quietly.

When did Sanji have a picture of Nami on his desktop, that's what Zoro wanted to know? Zoro already knew that Sanji was still obsessed with Nami, no matter how much he denied it. But something still didn't add up. Sanji had dropped out of school long before the end of the year prom. So how did he have a picture of Nami from the dance? Zoro wondered if he should confront Sanji about this. Then decided not to. That moron would probably make up some lame excuse, and then yell at him for going into his room. So Zoro dropped the thought and walked out into the hallway, and then in his room to get ready.

His plan was perfect, flawless in his mind, but now came the tricky part. Zoro slipped on his DC shoes and turned to face the small mirror in the front hall. His green hair went in several directions all over his head. He thought it looked kind of cool, so he decided not to brush it. He wore his black pants from last night and plain green T-shirt. Still… He needed something else. He had just met Raven yesterday. So there was no guarantee that she'd say yes. He needed something…

Raven lay in her bed. A banging sound could be heard from a distance. She tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. "Shut up." She moaned sleepily. Raven titled her up slightly to find her phone; it was on the bedside table. She picked it up and turned it on. A picture of a cute cat shinned in her face and the clock on the screen read, 12:30. _Twelve thirty!_ She thought. _Who is making that banging sound so early in the afternoon?_

"Raven! You home?" A recognizable voice called out to her.

"Zoro?" She groaned and got out of bed. She wondered why Zoro was at her door so early. She went over to her front door and opened it.

"Oh-wow. Did I wake you up?" She heard Zoro's voice, but her eyes were too heavy to see him.

Raven rubbed the sleepiness crust from her eyes at looked at Zoro.

"Hey Zo-woah!" Zoro stood in front of her. His hair was a litter messier then the last time she saw him. He had the same baggy jeans on as he did last night that made Raven wonder if he slept in them or not. But the strangest thing was. He didn't really have a shirt on. His six-pack shinned in the hallway light. Raven blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Uh- what did you say?"

"Well. It looks like you just came out of bed." He looked at her up and down.

"Oh." Raven felt her face go red. On weekends she usually slept in till three or four in the afternoon. And when she woke up and looked in a mirror, she did not look pretty. Her hair wasn't brushed and was in a messy bun. She wore a long pink tank top that just went past her hip. She did even have a bra on, (she made sure to cover those girls up) and you could just make out her black panties.

Realizing this, Raven quickly went behind her door and covered her body, but still poking out her head so she could talk to Zoro.

"Sorry about that." She laughed nervously. "So what's up?"

"Oh, well. I was wondering if later, you wanted to go to the movies?"

Raven thought this was kind of unexpected. She had just met Zoro last night and now he was asking her out. She must have made some weird face because Zoro began to back away.

"If today's not good."-

"No wait!" She wasn't sure if she should say yes or no. Raven _did _have a boyfriend. But he could be god knows where…

"Sure, I'd love to." Raven beamed. _It's Griffin's own fault for ditching me_ she thought to herself, _pay back._

"Great! I'll come and get you around nine this evening?" He asked.

"Yeah." Raven looked down at Zoro's abs. "And put on a shirt, you're distracting." She gave him a wink, and then closed the door.

She walked over to her couch and fell on it. Raven was exhausted. Last night she stayed up till three in the morning and made paintings of parks and beaches to sell them and get some cash. Some people even special ordered to make painters from her. She had to finish them on time, or else. Raven didn't want to have to move again. She then realized that she was going on a date with Zoro. That meant she had to have a shower. Raven moaned, "five more minutes." She told herself. She didn't actually get off the couch till 5pm

Sanji woke to the sound of his phone ringing. "Zoro, get the phone." He mumbled, but no one replied. Sanji guessed that meant he was answering it. He got out of bed and stumbled out his room. He grabbed the phone on the wall near him and answered it.

"Hello?" He said.

"Eh? Don't _hello_, me all casual like you don't have a care in the world." A voice called back to him on the other line.

"Patty?"

"Yeah it's Patty, and if you don't get your ass over here Chef Zeff's going to explode." Patty yelled and made an explosion sound with his mouth.

Sanji didn't understand. Why was Patty calling him, and why did he say that the geezer was going to explode? …

Then in hit him

"It's two o'clock in the afternoon you idiot. Work started two hours ago!" Patty screamed one last time, then hung up the phone.

Sanji stood there, trying to get a grip on the situation, for some reason though he couldn't comprehend it.

"Late-for-work?" He said slowly. Several moments later, Zoro called out from the living room. "That means you get your ass in gear and get the hell to work!"

"R-Right." Sanji hung up the phone and ran back into his room. He opened his huge, wonderful closet and got dressed. He put on black pants and a blue button up shirt. Next, he ran into the bathroom, grabbed his comb and brushed down his hair as fast as he could. Brushed his teeth, put on cologne, put on face cream, put on men's body cream, took a piss, and then ran out the bathroom.

"You better hurry." Zoro said coldly, he sat on the couch watching Family Guy.

"I think I know that." Sanji put on his shoes and looked in the mirror one last time before running out the door.

Once Zoro knew Sanji was gone and in the elevator, he laughed his head off. "That retard." He got up from the couch and walked over to the fridge and grabbed a soda.

"Life is good." He sat back on the couch and continued watching T.V

He gasped happily, "Brian's Alive! Life just got better!"

Sanji stumbled out of the elevator. Every part of his body ached. He groaned and began to walk down the hallway to his apartment. He past Raven's and wondered if he should stop by, but even he was too tired for _that._ Sanji opened the door to his place and shuffled over to the couch and fell on it like a rag doll. He was exhausted. When he went to work Zeff gave him a good beating for being two hours late. Then, he was given extra labour, without pay. Finally, he started flirting with a woman who came in with a group of friends and Zeff got so mad he kicked him out early. He was still wondering how the alarm didn't wake him up. Sure, he may be a heavy sleeper but he doubted that he could sleep threw his alarm clock, that thing was loud. Maybe Zoro had something to do with it.

"Zoro!" Sanji called out in the apartment. He got no response. But Sanji figured he was somewhere nearby.

"Did you turn off my alarm?" He shouted again, and again got no response. He looked up from the couch. "Zoro?"

Sanji got up from the couch and looked around the place, in Zoro's room, in the bathroom, in the closet. Zoro was nowhere to be seen.

"Must be out." Sanji muttered to himself. "I better text him and find out where the hell he is, it's eleven o'clock at night for gods sake." Sanji took his cell phone, and he noticed in the status bar, he had a new message.

"Hey Eyebrows just leting u know if u com home and ur wondring where I am 2 bad im not telling ya butt I shoud B bk around 10 or 11."

Sanji sighed heavily. Zoro was such a retard; he wondered why he still lived here with him. "_Because you have no where else to go. You're the retard here." _Sanji checked the clock. "He should be back soon." Sanji layback on the couch and closed his eyes…

When he woke up. He checked his cell phone again. The clock on the screen read, "1:55"

That's when Sanji started to get worried, where was that bastard? Not that he cared particularly, but that dumbass paid half the rent. So Sanji got up and stretched, then got off the couch and walked back over to the front hall. He grabbed his coat and began to go on his search to look for Zoro, when he realized something.

Zoro was off doing who knows what, while Sanji's future love interest was just a few feet away.

"Raven-chan, here I come!" Sanji ran out the door as fast as he could and stopped outside Raven's door."

"Raven-chan? You there?" He knocked on it three times and waited. No one answered.

"Where is she?" Sanji knocked on the door again. "Raven? Raven?" Still, no one answered.

"Damnit." Sanji took out his cell phone, and then remembered he didn't have her number.

Where were those two? He didn't understand. That was when he began to put two and two together. He felt a light bulb turn on in his brain.

"That son of a bitch."

Sanji took out his phone again and sped dialled the first gullible person that came to mind.

"Usopp speaking."

"Hey Usopp, I'm coming to pick you up."

"Uh, why?"

"We have to find Zoro, he may be going on a date with my future wife."

He heard Usopp sigh heavily. "Fine, I'll be ready when you get here."

Sanji arrived in Usopp's driveway. Usopp had a nice little house, fit for him and Kaya. It was green and had a front porch. Their property was well maintained and had flowers around the yard.

Sanji started to become inpatient and honked the horn of his car loudly. A few moments later, Usopp came stumbling out the door. He wore yellow baggy shorts and a black shirt that had a lion on the front; also on his feet were blue boots. He came up to the car and got in the passenger seat.

"So what's the big deal Sanji?" Usopp buckled up as Sanji pulled out of the driveway. "I barely even understood you on the phone. Tell me again why I'm getting in the car with you?"

"Zoro is going on a date with my future wife." He said sternly.

"Future… wife." Usopp thought about this for a moment, and then sighed. "O-o-o-k then, why did you need me?"

"I need an excuse for going to find them of course. When we find them, you need to lie and say that you needed Zoro for some stupid reason." Sanji nodded. "Pretty good plan, don't you think?"

Usopp nodded back. "Yes, you did call the best liar in town. But, how are we going to find them? There's dozens of places to go on a date here in Grand Line Town."

Sanji bit his lip. "You're right…" He wondered where Zoro would take her.

"There's the beach?" He suggested. "That can be romantic after dark?"

"Sure let's start there." Usopp smiled.

Sanji turned the street and headed for Angel Beach. While he drove, Usopp began playing with the radio and rocked out to "Wreaking Ball." When they arrived there, the two searched the beach and didn't find Zoro or Raven.

"Where to next?" Usopp asked Sanji on their way back to the car.

"Well… The park?" Sanji guessed.

"Sure, why not?"

They two got in the car and drove to the park. They looked around and found no one.

"You, know. I don't even know what I'm looking for. What does your future wife look like?" Usopp looked in a bush, then behind a tree.

"She's beautiful."

"Is this is?" Usopp pointed to a lovely flower poking out of the ground.

"No, but close." Sanji walked over and picked the flower. He wasn't a flower genius, so he didn't know what it was called. But it was big blue flower with some yellow things pointing out the middle. It glittered by the moonlight.

"Uh, Sanji?" Usopp waved his hand in front of Sanji's face.

"Huh? Oh- yes?"

"I just remembered. Zoro did text me an hour ago or so and told me was going on a date with a girl named Raven at the movies and that they were at the movies.

"… What!" Sanji kicked Usopp and he flew across the park. "Why did you tell me sooner you idiot!"

"I forgot! Plus, you never told the name of the girl so I thought she could be someone else!" Usopp yelled and rubbed the bump on his face.

"Well, don't just lay there, let's go!" Sanji ran towards the car.

"Hey, wait for me!" Usopp tripped and tried to catch up with Sanji.

The two got in the car once more and Sanji drove over to the theatre. When they got there, police cars, ambulances and fire trucks surrounded the building.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Usopp asked with concern.

"I hope Raven's alright." Sanji sped the car up faster and turned to the theatre, Sanji and Usopp got out of the car and darted over the commotion. Sanji spotted police men holding weird looking men in costumes, some of them even looked like clowns. What scared Sanji most was that he saw injured people as well. Men, woman and child came out of the theatre with blood on their clothes. He swore he saw some paramedics caring a dead person to the ambulance. Sanji became very nervous and ran up to the theatre looking for Raven.

"Raven!" He yelled, looking around the crowd.

Usopp was behind him. "It would probably be a better plan to find Zoro. He sticks out more."

Sanji didn't give a damn about Zoro. He wanted to make sure Raven was ok. He ignored Usopp and continued searching franticly for Raven, but with no luck.

"Let's split up." Sanji quickly tried to come up with a plan. "You continue to look around out here, I'll go inside."

"Ok… but there's yellow tape around the outside of the theatre." Usopp pointed out.

"You think I give a shit!" Sanji ran for the theatre. He jumped over the yellow tape reading, "do not cross" While policemen yelled and chased after him. He followed the crowd of people to theatre number four. It was playing Insidious Chapter 2. There, talking to a policeman was Zoro. His one arm was wrapped up in bandage and stained in red. Sanji ran up to him.

* * *

><p><strong>yes I know... insidious chapter 2 came out like a million years ago...but when I made this it had just come out and I didn't feel like changing it so the time period in this story is a little off...also I don't really have the time to re read my stories as much as I'd like to.. so if you see a spelling error let me know. but don't point out every tiny little mistake k :)<strong>


	6. Chapter 5: Zoro's awkward encounter

"Zoro! Where's Raven-chan?" He yelled.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Oh, its you. What's with the face?"

"Shut up, where's Raven-chan?" He grabbed Zoro by the shirt.

"Calm you shit dude, she's fine. She went to help the injured outside."

As if on cue, Raven came walking into the theatre. Sanji almost blacked out. She wore a short pink sweater that showed off her stomach and blue skinny jeans. Her hair was in a braid down her right side, but was messy and tangled. Her clothes seemed to be dirty as well, other than that though, she seemed fine.

"Oh Raven-chan!" Sanji ran up to her and hugged her as tight as he could.

"Sanji?!" Raven was so surprised she fell down by Sanji's embrace and they both fell on the ground, Zoro laughed

"Uh- sorry Raven-chan." Sanji blushed slightly and helped Raven up.

"No worry." Raven got up and was also blushing. "What are you doing here?" She asked with minor anger.

"You guys were really late coming home. So I went to go find you- I mean, Usopp needed your help with something." Sanji make a face of concern. "You _are _alright, right?"

"Of course." Raven nodded. She pointed over to Zoro. "Unlike that guy over there."

Zoro smirked. "Yeah. I let my guard down." He looked at his arm and sighed.

"I still don't understand. What happened?" Sanji looked around.

"Well"-

"Hey!" A deep voice boomed from the entrance of the theatre. A tall man with greenish white hair stood in front of them holding Usopp by the nose. "Unless you're an officer I must ask you to leave." Smoke poured out of his two cigars from his mouth.

The three walked out of the theatre. Usopp complained. "Let me go! Let me go! I'm with them."

"Huh?" The man glared at Usopp. He dropped him and walked away. Usopp stuck out his tongue then went to go catch up with the others.

"Who was that?" Raven asked.

"Captain Smoker. Chief of the police guys around here." Sanji explained.

"Smoker? That guy that Tashigi was talking about?" She turned to Zoro.

Zoro looked away. "Y-yeah."

"Wait, you guys met Tashigi?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah." Raven smiled over at Zoro. He looked away quickly. The four exited the theatre and into the parking lot. People still covered the area as well as police cars and ambulances.

"Well, we all better head home." Usopp nodded. "As in, take me home now."

Sanji was about to volunteer, but Zoro spoke up. "I'll do it." He grabbed Usopp and walked away, "See you guys at home!" He called out and winked at Raven. She looked away quickly. Sanji was really beginning to wonder what happened on their date. But he didn't bother asking Raven now. She was probably tired for the excitement, or whatever happened that night.

"Guess I'll take you back to Logue Towers." Sanji smiled.

Raven looked at the ground. "Sure."

Sanji lead her to his car and the two got in. Sanji felt a bit of awkward tension, he didn't know why though. "Before we go home, is it alright if I stop at McDonald's?"

"Sure. Doesn't matter to me." Raven looked out the window.

Sanji drove out of the theatre and over to McDonalds. Neither of them spoke. Sanji was seriously considering asking what had happened on their date. Why was Raven being so casual to Sanji, as if they were, acquaintances? He felt himself die a little inside. When they first met, Sanji thought they might have had a spark, but apparently not. Then it hit him; maybe Raven had begun to develop feelings for Zoro!

"You just past the McDonalds." Raven pointed behind them.

"Shit." Sanji turned into the next building, which was a laundry mat. Then backed out and headed to McDonalds again. He entered the parking lot and drove up to the drive threw.

"You want anything?" He asked politely.

Raven shook her head. "No thanks."

Sanji studied her. Was his theory true? On their first date, had Raven fallen in love with Zoro. He checked the signs, sudden blushing, check, playing or twitching of the hands, check, gazing into the distance, check. If he asked her, and she declined quickly, that meant for sure she liked him, and then Sanji was screwed.

Sanji drove up a little as the drive threw line got shorter. He turned to Raven who was staring at the parking lot out the window.

"Raven-chan?" Sanji said her name and Raven's face became a slight red colour. "What?" She answered without looking at him.

"Do you like…Zoro?"

Raven faced Sanji with a confused face for a moment. She stared right in his eyes, something she hadn't done all night, and then began to laugh her head off.

Sanji stared at her with bewilderment. This was not the reaction he was expecting.

Once Raven had calmed down she spoke, "Oh course I do."

Sanji froze, "What?"

"Of course I like him. He's hilarious, nice, sweet, everything I like in a man."

Sanji couldn't believe what he was hearing. Every word crushed his heart more and more. "Kind-hearted, sarcastic, funny, cute." He felt so bad; he thought he was going to throw up. Instead. He slammed his head on the steering wheel.

"Sanji! Are you ok?" Raven gasped.

Sanji thought maybe the pain in his head would make him forget about what had just happen, but it didn't. "I…" He didn't know what to say. It was over; there was now no chance with Raven. He was forever alone. To confirm his horrible future, he asked.

"You guys are going to date now I guess right?"

Raven looked at him once more, only this time she didn't laugh. She made this face, a face Sanji had never seen before. It was confusion, with slight concern and a little blushing. What was that look? Sanji didn't know.

"Are you kidding me? No way." Raven's expression didn't change. "I like him, but as a friend. He has all the traits I'd want for a guy friend." She leaned her head closer to his. Sanji smelt the small hint of cotton candy. Was it her perfume?

"Why do you ask?" She looked at him straight in the eye, her cheeks somewhat red.

Sanji stuttered, "Uh- I- well, you s-see." The words couldn't come out. He swallowed and took a deep breath. "I…"

"Yeah?" Raven was less than an inch away from his face.

"I… l-love."-

"Welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order?"

Sanji froze; he turned and realized he was beside the microphone. He swallowed. "Uh- yes can I have a big Mac meal please, with a Pepsi."

"Sure thing."

Sanji turned back to Raven. "Uh- what was I saying…"

Raven giggled. "Forget it." She smiled at him brightly; this made Sanji remember what he was going to say.

"Oh yeah, I remember. I'd love it if I could have you number." He smiled.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Uh-sure."

* * *

><p>"So, how did your date go?" Usopp asked.<p>

"It was ok. Beside the part that the theatre was attacked." Zoro chuckled as he drove.

Usopp sat in the passenger seat and played angry birds on his phone while he talked. "From what Sanji said. I'm going to take it that he really likes this Raven chick?"

"Oh yeah. His new obsession." Zoro smiled. "That's why I thought it be funny if I went out with her. You know, just to see his reaction."

"Is that all?" Usopp smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"And she was kind of cute." Zoro shrugged.

"You guys going to start dating?" Usopp asked.

Zoro stared at the road and didn't answer right away. "I don't think so."

"Why not?"

Zoro thought about what had happened that night. "I'll tell you why, this is what happened…"

* * *

><p>Zoro looked in the mirror of the bathroom. He wore a black jeans and a white button up shirt. He checked his phone to see what time it was. 8:55 it was time to go pick up Raven. He went out to the front hall and put on his shoes and sweater. Zoro took one last look at his apartment, and then opened the door and walked into the hallway. He felt butterflies in his stomach. He wondered if this date was going to get him somewhere with Raven. He hadn't really been seeing anyone, since Tashigi. He sighed heavily.<p>

"Tashigi…"

He suddenly realized he was at Raven's door already. He knocked on it twice and waited patiently.

"One second!" Raven's voice called out. A moment later the door opened. "Hey." Zoro stared back, "Hey."

Raven smiled back at him. She wore her hair in a braid down her right shoulder and had a little bit of makeup on her face. She wore some sort of tube top, only it was a sweater. It showed off her healthy and skinny stomach. Her pants were tight blue jeans and on her feet she had some plain sneakers. "You look nice." She grinned.

"Don't let me even start about you." He smiled. "You look really amazing."

"Thanks." Raven blushed a little then stepped out of her place and locked the door. "All set?"

"Yep. Let's go." He wondered if he should put his arm around or her our not. He decided to wait till they got to the theatre. The two walked to the elevator and got in. Zoro pressed the button with the number one on it and the elevator doors closed. He felt that feeling in his stomach that you get when you go up or down on an elevator.

"What movie were you thinking of seeing?" Raven asked him.

"I don't care. Whatever you want." Zoro shrugged.

"Ok." Raven tried to think of new movies that were out. She didn't really watch T.V so she never saw any commercials for new films. Raven took out her cell phone and went on the local theatres website to see what movies they were playing.

"I was thinking of seeing a scary movie." Raven grinned. "I love scary movies."

Zoro was slightly surprised. He never really met a girl who loved scary movies. Then again, he never really met another girl who liked action and bloody movies, but Tashigi seemed to be obsessed with them…

He realized what he had just thought and shook his head. _"No, get that out of your head. You over her, remember?"_

The elevator doors opened. "I think there's a new scary movie that just came out a little while ago, Devil…something." Zoro and Raven walked out of the elevator and out into the lobby.

The lobby was empty. White tile floor and a light blue tone on the wall. The lobby wasn't the most welcoming lobby Zoro had seen.

"I hate this lobby." Raven looked around with concern. "Gives me the creeps."

"That's what I was just thinking." Zoro smiled. Raven laughed. "Great minds think alike."

Then Zoro got a weird feeling in his gut. He realized it wasn't _just _the lobby that was creeping him out; it was if someone was watching them. He looked around and tried to look as casual as he could. Raven was sharp and looked over. "You ok?"

"Y-Yeah." Zoro couldn't see anyone so he shrugged it off. His feelings were never wrong though; someone was following them.

The two made it outside and they walked to the parking lot. Zoro spotted his car. It was green so it didn't blend in with the other normal cars, a little like him.

"Here's my car." Zoro led Raven over and Raven laughed. "I like the colour, it suits you."

Zoro chuckled. "Yep."

They both got in and Zoro was about to start the car when he looked around. His car was a mess. Coffee cups lay everywhere as well as McDonalds bags and other objects you wouldn't want your date to find. He glanced over at Raven. "Heh, sorry about the mess." Raven made a face that Zoro couldn't read.

"You should've seen my car." Raven laughed. "It's ten times worse then this."

Zoro laughed back. Raven was nothing like Zoro would have thought. _Never judge a book by its cover, that's what Tashigi always said.-_

_ "Stop it!" _Zoro yelled inside his head.

"Wait, you said should." He looked back at Raven. "Do you not have a car anymore?"

"Uh"- Raven made a look of desperation. As if she spilt juice and didn't have anything to clean it up with. "Y-yeah."

"Ok." Zoro wondered why she wouldn't tell him the whole story. He started the car and pulled out of the parking spot and out onto the street, heading for the theatre.

The drive there was nothing but fun. Zoro told jokes that made Raven laugh, and she pointed out weird people on the street as they past by. They soon got to the theatre.

The theatre was shaped like a warship, as the name of it was, "Warship Island Theatre".

"Here we are!" Zoro exclaimed. Raven looked outside her window and beamed. "Wow, I've never actually been to the theatre in town."

"Really? Well today you will, with me." He parked and turned off the car, and walked over to her side of the car and opened the door for her. He held out his hand and Raven accepted it. Zoro and Raven walked into the theatre holding hands. Zoro was actually excited for this date, but his plans would soon be interfered with.

They walked into the theatre. The main room was big and had a tall ceiling. At the end of the room was the counter where you ordered your popcorn and other movie food. To the left of the room was another room, the arcade. Raven saw kids playing arcade games and running around in it. Machines where you order your tickets were near the front, as soon as you walked in. Around the edge of the theatre entrance was tables and chairs, plus those candy machines where you get candy for twenty-five cents. Raven and Zoro walked over to the ticket machines.

"So, let's see." Zoro was searching threw the movie options they were playing tonight. "Oh! Insidious Chapter 2! We have to watch that!" Zoro exclaimed happily. "Have you seen the first one?" He asked

"Um, I think so." Raven tried to remember. "Uh, yeah, I have."

"Great!" Zoro pressed the screen on the machine and ordered the tickets. He put in his credit card and then out came the tickets from a slot near the top.

"Let's go order now. The movie starts in about ten minutes, we can just make it." Zoro grabbed her hand again and walked over to order their food.

A young girl about maybe ten or eleven stood behind the counter. "Welcome to Warship Island Theatre what would you like to eat?"

Zoro looked down, he could barely see her behind the counter. "Apis?"

Apis looked up. "Oh, hey Zoro." She was a small girl who wore a pointed hat. She wore the Warship Island Theatre uniform, which was a black shirt with a picture of a warship on it, on top of her dress.

"Aren't you a little young to be working here?" Zoro asked.

"Maybe. But someone called in sick, so my grandpa asked me to fill in." Apis smiled. "He said I could keep the money I earned tonight." She grinned happily. She looked over at Raven. "Who's she?"

Raven felt awkward. "Raven." She nodded.

Zoro stepped in. "My date." He smiled.

Apis smiled back. "Well then, what movie are you two seeing?"

"Insidious Chapter 2" Zoro replied. "With a large popcorn and two cokes please." He pulled out a 10000-beri bill. Apis took it.

"Ok. One sec" She put the money in the cash register and gave Zoro his change, she then walked over the popcorn maker behind her and began putting popcorn into a large popcorn bag.

"I assumed you like coke right?" Zoro asked.

"Yep, coke's fine." Raven smiled. She looked over at Apis. She was amazing that Zoro even knew this girl. She started to wonder if it was true that they knew everyone one in Grand Line Town.

"Here you are. One large popcorn and two cokes." Apis put them on the counter and Zoro grabbed them. "Thanks." He gave her a wave.

"Wait!" Apis ducked under the counter and pulled out a bag of sour patch kids. "Here, on the house."

"Thank you." Raven smiled and grabbed the bag. She said good-bye to Apis and they two walked over to get their tickets checked.

They walked over to a man and he ripped the bottom of the tickets. Raven always wondered why they did that. "Have a nice night theatre number four." He smiled. Zoro and Raven walked down the hallway and headed for theatre four.

"Do you need help carrying anything? It looks like your having difficulty." Raven asked Zoro.

"No I'm fine." But as soon as he said that, their popcorn fell out of his hand. "Oh shit"- Zoro cursed, as it was about to hit the ground. Raven was fast and she grabbed it just before it hit he floor.

"Thank god." Zoro sighed in relief. Raven smiled. "_I'll _carry the popcorn."

"Ok." Zoro smirked. The two walked down the hallway, they just past theatre number 3. Zoro spotted some police walking near by.

"I wonder if anything happened." Raven said, as if reading his mind. He wondered that too. He hoped nothing went wrong on his date.

Then, from behind them, he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! Zoro!"

Zoro froze, not moving, not breathing. He looked up and cursed in his mind. He turned around and faced the person who called him. _"Why?_"He thought. _"Why here, why now."_

"Hey… Tashigi." He smiled weakly.

* * *

><p><strong>dun dun dun...<strong>


	7. Chapter 6: Buggy Coming Soon to theatre

Just his luck, of course Tashigi, his ex-girlfriend had to show up. Raven walked up beside him holding the popcorn. "Who's this?"

"Uh.." Zoro didn't know what to say really. "This… is my _friend _Tashigi."

Tashigi winced at the word "Friend" and started to chuckle, "Now, now Zoro, no need for the formalities." She raised her hand and shook it with Raven, "I'm Tashigi, Zoro's Ex."

Raven nodded simply and looked over at Zoro. "Ex you say?" Zoro tried not to make eye contact. "Uh-yeah." He looked over at Tashigi; he couldn't help but stare at her. Sometimes he wondered how someone so stupid could be so beau-

"_Stop you! Don't even think that!"_

Tashigi fixed her glasses, "And what might you two be doing on this fine evening?"

Zoro held back a curse. It was pretty obvious that him and Raven were on a date, of course, Tashigi wasn't the sharpest sword around. But still, he felt awkward having to tell Tashigi he was out going on a date with someone. Plus he had never really talked to Tashigi after he broke up with her a few weeks ago, and him finally talking to her, only to have a new date beside him wasn't really fair. Raven seemed to be watching him and stepped up to speak.

"Well, I was just about to go enjoy a good chick-flick with my girlfriends, when I ran into this lost, green haired man."

At first Zoro was slightly confused, but then he put two and two together and realized Raven was trying to save his ass.

"Uh, yes!" He tried to do the best acting he could. "I'm horrible lost." Which is to say it was the worst acting ever.

Tashigi seemed to buy it though and put her hands on her hips, "Zoro! How many times did I tell you, if you're lost, you should find a map so you know where you're going! Not to get found by this sweet girl who was just about to enjoy a good movie!"

"R-right, sorry." Zoro remembered her telling him that all the time, but he never bothered to tell her that he can't read maps. Not to mention there probably weren't any maps in a theatre. "So anyway, what are you even doing here Tash?"

"Oh, well it was reported that some local criminals were sneaking around here."

"You mean those people that blew up that bowling alley?" Raven asked.

"Yes, those people. Smoker asked me personally to scout around here and I won't let him down." Tashigi clutched her sword beside her.

"Well, we will keep an eye out if we see anything suspicious. Now, excuse me as I take this man to a phone so he can call one of his buddies to pick him up." Raven grabbed Zoro's arm and dragged him till they were out of sight from Tashigi.

Raven sighed, "Ok, once she's gone we go to movie theatre number four."

"Wait." Zoro said. Raven turned to face him, "What?"

"Thanks, for what you did back there I mean."

Raven smiled, "No problem, its happen to me before too."

Zoro felt a weight lift off him. The awkwardness of a first date was gone and he was starting to really like this girl. "Let's go then." He put his arm around her and headed for theatre number four.

"Uh- Zoro… the theatre is in the other direction."

"Damnit!"

* * *

><p>Raven lay on her couch, a bowl of cereal for a nighttime snack lay beside her. The T.V was on, but whatever was on it, she wasn't really watching it. She was two occupied with her phone.<p>

As soon as Sanji had said good-bye to her, he had been texting her constantly. Her conversation went a little like this,

* * *

><p>Sanji: Hey ! :D<p>

Raven: Hello

Sanji: Whatcha doin?

Raven: Just sittin here havin a bowl of cereal :/

Sanji: OH! Fun!

Raven: Yeah, loads of fun lol cx

Thirty seconds later…

Sanji: Hey! :D

Raven: Hello again

Sanji: Whatcha doin?

* * *

><p>This went on for a while till Raven finally told him she was going to bed. Raven put her phone down and finished her bowl of cereal, not sure what to do, she put the bowl in the sink and went to her room.<p>

Her room wasn't the cleanest room there was; in fact, she thought sometimes it was the messiest. Clothes lay everywhere so that you barely saw her floor, and dishes covered the little space she had on her dresser and desk. Paintbrushes and papers also filled the room. Raven didn't really care thought; she just flopped on her bed and closed her eyes.

She thought of the events that had taken place that day. Her date with Zoro had definitely been the most wildest, what with buggy the clown and his gangs showing up of course. She began to recall this and the conversation she had been having with him before all excitement had happened.

* * *

><p>Raven and Zoro entered the theatre and found a good spot right in the middle just as the lights were dimming for the preview to start.<p>

"Just in time." Raven beamed.

"Great, now pass me the popcorn." Raven sat down and handed Zoro the popcorn. He thanked her and put his arm around her neck and she laid her head down on his shoulder. Raven had to admit it felt nice.

"I still can't believe what you did back there, with Tashigi and all." Zoro smiled at her.

Raven smiled back, "Yeah well, I could tell you were in a pinch. I mean, going on a date with someone then having to meet your ex-girlfriend that your still in love with would really suck."

"Yeah, yeah… Wait what!?" Zoro said it slightly loud enough that people around him told him to shut up." He leaned closer and whispered. "What the hell are you talking about, I broke up with her because I _don't _love her. She's a dimwit and really stupid. She always drops her glasses, and she always lectures me on everything I do. All she cares about is her stupid job, sometimes I thought she liked Smoker more then she did me."

Raven just smiled, "You can say whatever you want, but I know when someone loves somebody, it's not that hard to point out."

"Oh really, then by all means please tell me this useful trick." Zoro said sarcastically.

"Well, I could tell by the way you look at her. You had this little sparkle in your eye when you set eyes on her."

Zoro tried to understand this. "Uh- I'm still confused."

"Oh never mind." Raven rolled her eyes looked back at the theatre screen.

The two sat in silence as the previews arrived at an end and the movie began.

"I have to ask though." Zoro leaned in and whispered again. "How did you and Sanji meet again? I got his side of the story, but most of it was filled with his retardedness and I lost track of what happened."

"Well, I was on a date with someone else, Sanji got in a fight with him and my date left. Then, Sanji drove me home, nothing special."

"Then, why did you continue to talk to him, if you thought he was "nothing special"? Zoro asked.

Raven didn't really know how to answer that question. "I'm not sure, it was just something about him I guess."

"Well to him, you definitely not "nothing special" all he talks about is you and how hot he thinks you are, how he calls you his _future wife _and well, not going to go into detail of the rest of it, but you get what I'm saying."

Raven could tell her face was going red, but she hoped since there wasn't a lot of light in the room that Zoro couldn't see it. No one ever said those things about her, _ever!_ Ok, when she first met Sanji, she might of thought he was kind of cute. But after meeting him she realized he was slightly creepy and a pervert. But why didn't she just leave him alone. She could have called a cab the night that Griffin ran off, yet she decided to ride with Sanji. Sanji…

She turned her head and noticed Zoro was staring at her, "What?"

"Nothing." Zoro turned his head back at the movie screen and took and another hand full of popcorn and ate it. "Do you know the reason I asked you on a date?" He asked while still watching the movie.

"Uh" Raven had no idea.

"Well, beside the fact that you're beautiful." Zoro said, and Raven blushed slightly. "It was because Sanji was going to ask you out first."

"What?"

"Yup, so I turned off his alarm and asked you out while he was asleep." Zoro shrugged.

Raven smiled at the thought of Sanji waking up early and realizing he was late for work, but she quickly got that image out of her head.

"Would you rather be going on a date with him right now?" Zoro asked quickly.

"What! Of course not!" Raven protested, the people around her told her to shut up and watch the movie. Zoro smiled and did something unexpected; he kissed Raven on the cheek. Raven froze for a moment.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot." Zoro pulled out his phone.

"What is it?" Raven asked after coming to her senses.

"I should text Sanji, he's probably gonna wonder where I am when he gets back to the apartment." He turned on his phone and the people around him whispered in complain.

"Turn of your phone."

"Did you see the thing before the movie? Turn off your phone!"

"I'm trying to watch a movie here! Turn off the phone you retard!"

"Oh shut up all of you!" Zoro yelled back. "There see, phones going away." Zoro put his phone away and sighed heavily. "Sheesh." Raven giggled and put her head back on his shoulder.

* * *

><p>Zoro opened his apartment door and took of his shoes. Sanji sat on the couch near him and was giggling over his phone and being retarded as usual.<p>

"Hey." Zoro said, Sanji didn't seem to notice him and continued staring at his phone. Zoro grabbed a beer from the fridge and went to go sit down on the other side of the couch, but when he sat down, pain went up his injured arm. He winced and Sanji turned to face him.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, its nothing." Zoro grabbed the T.V remote with his other hand and began looking threw the channels.

Sanji put down his phone. "So what even happened anyway? How did you hurt your arm?"

Zoro sighed heavily, "Nothing on T.V." He grumbled, and then turned to Sanji. "Well, here's what happened, listen carefully cause I'm not repeating myself."

* * *

><p>Even thought Raven had said she liked scary movies, she seemed to be terrified of them. Raven kept hiding her face in Zoro's shoulder whenever a scary part would come up. But at the same time, he wasn't complaining. Zoro put his arm around her and cuddled her, "You ok?" He asked.<p>

"Y-yeah, just tell me when the scary parts over."

Zoro chuckled, "ok."

They watched in silence till Zoro began to hear loud screaming and banging coming from a distance. Raven held him tighter, "Oh god, what's happening now?"

"That's not coming from the movie." Zoro stood up and looked around to see where the sounds were coming from, people around him did the same. Then, it became very quiet and Zoro could hear voices coming from hear by.

"HAHAHA, What a flashily good idea Moji!"

Zoro heard the sound of explosions.

"Well Boss Buggy, it just wouldn't seem right to use our signature Buggy Ball!"

There was another huge explosion sound and the wall to the left of Zoro blew up and a herd of bandits charged threw the theatre.

"Hello you flashy idiots! Anyone who doesn't want to die, go into the lobby and be our hostages!" A man that seemed to be the leader screamed and it echoed threw out the theatre. He wore colourful clothes and had a big red nose. Then he laughed the most weirdest, jack-in-a-box laugh.

"What do we do?" Raven tugged on Zoro's arm.

"Let's just stay with the crowd for now." Zoro grabbed Raven's hand and pulled her along with the large group of people heading for the lobby.

People shoved and screamed, a few tried to escape but were shot down by one of the bandits. Everyone got into the lobby and was ordered to sit down in a big group near the arcade and wait.

For Zoro it felt like they'd been waiting there for five hours. Police cars had surrounded the theatre but no one could do anything because the criminals had dozens of hostages.

The boss of all the bandits laughed, "HaHa, when did all those cops get so serious, there must be the whole station out there."

But Zoro wasn't paying much attention; ever since the bandits had come he had been looking around for one person, Tashigi. He hoped she was ok. Then he spotted her along the wall with a few other cops. The cops were just wearing normal clothes so you couldn't tell they were police right on, that was probably why the bandits hadn't noticed them yet. Zoro stared at Tashigi, he guessed she was about to attack the bandits when ready, but Zoro kept staring at her face. It wasn't so often he got to see her now and days. Ever since they broke up he had only seen her once or twice in the grocery store. He missed that beautiful face.

"Seems we'll have to do something flashy to get the cops attention." Buggy thought out loud. "Looks like I'll have to kill a few of my hostages."

Everyone around Zoro tensed and huddled together. That was when Tashigi stepped in.

"Buggy of the Buggy bandits, you are here by under arrest." She shouted. Buggy was surprised at first, but didn't seem intimated by a girl cop and a few of her men. Though he did nothing when the police surrounded him.

"We've got them surrounded in here!" Tashigi shouted, trying to get the attention of the police outside. A few of them waved at her and nodded and began to walk in.

"I don't think so." Buggy mumbled. "BUGGY BANDITS, ATTACK!"

The lobby was in full swing of screams of horror, everywhere Zoro looked people started to fall on the ground dead. A few of the hostages took this time to leave but where killed by a gigantic lion that was blocking the door. Zoro turned around and saw seven dead people on the ground; they were the cops that were hanging around Tashigi. Tashigi herself stood in the middle of them all, sorrow covering her face as she looked at her dead comrades. Buggy stood a few feet away from her holding knifes between his fingers. They were covered in blood.

"HehHeh, you think you can stop me little girl?" Buggy snickered.

Tashigi faced Buggy and took out her sword and pointed it at him. "Yes."

Tashigi and Buggy began to fight. The hostages around them and Buggy's crew cheered and yelled. Tashigi was ok with a sword, but Buggy was fast and his knifes were quick. Zoro saw that Buggy was about to find an opening and slash Tashigi to bits when a man with funny bear hair yelled over to Buggy.

"Captain! The police are moving in!"

"What!" Buggy exclaimed.

It was true, the police around the theatre were slowly moving in, probably because their captain had been distracted. Zoro was happy by this, he just wanted to get out of this place. His date with Raven started out ok, but now it was a disaster.

"Raven..."

Speaking of which, where was Raven. Zoro looked around but he didn't see her. Then, he heard a small scream that sent chills down his spine.

Tashigi's sword laid ways away from her, Buggy had her in his arms and was holding his knifes to her throat.

"T-Tashigi."

"YAHAHAHA, No one move, or the police girl get it!"

That's when Zoro snapped.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Zoro pulled out two of his swords, "Get your hands off of her!"

"Cabaji!" Buggy screamed.

Zoro was about to strike when he clashed swords with someone else. The man had a long checkered scarf and was on a unicycle.

"Hello Roronoa Zoro, I've so much about you and your little dojo down the street." Cabaji sneered.

"Who the hell do you think"-

Zoro heard Buggy laugh wildly and then out of nowhere he felt a horrible pain on his arm. He looked over and saw a knife sticking out of it.

"Wh-What the-!"

Buggy had snuck behind him and stabbed him in the arm, still holding Tashigi. She whimpered softly, "Z-Zoro."

But Zoro just laughed, "Heh, you need me to be handicapped for you to beat me."

He ran at top speed at Cabaji and sliced his swords. Cabaji fell to the ground covered in blood. Zoro huffed and puffed, trying to ignore the pain in his arm. He turned to Buggy. "Your next you freak show."

Zoro saw a sweat drop fall down Buggy's forehead. "If you even move, this girls dead."

Zoro flinched, what was he suppose to do?

Then he heard a voice come from behind Buggy. "Hey clown." Zoro gasped as Raven stood behind Buggy holding their bucket of popcorn.

"Who the hell are you girl!" Buggy sneered.

"I'm Raven, and would you like some popcorn?" She ran up to him and slammed the bucket of popcorn on his head. The surprise made him let go of Tashigi and Raven grabbed her arm and pulled her away, "Now Zoro!" She yelled.

"Right." Zoro glared at Buggy who was scrambling to get the popcorn bucket off of him. "This is for ruining out date." He slashed Buggy with his swords and it was soon over.

Police came in and arrested Buggy and his gang. Tashigi was called a hero for trying to defeat such a horrible criminal. The hostages were freed and the injured ones were sent to the hospital.

Zoro walked up to Raven. "Nice work."

Raven grinned, "Not so bad yourself." Then she looked down at his arm, "You should probably get that checked out."

"Probably."

The two walked over to the medics who were in theatre number four. They bandaged up Zoro's arm and thanked him for his help with the arrest of the Buggy gang.

"Hey, no problem."

"Zoro!"

Zoro looked around to see who called him, he saw Tashigi running over to him.

"Oh man." He grumbled.

Tashigi ran up and hugged him, making both of them fall to the ground. "What is wrong with you?" Tashigi screamed.

"W-What!"

"Getting stabbed, but then still fighting! Zoro you're so stupid. It's my fault." Tashigi's eyed watered.

Zoro sighed happily and put his good arm around her. They stayed like this for a moment till Raven came back.

"Hello." She raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Uh- right, sorry." Tashigi let go of him and stood up. "Make sure he gets home safely." She began to walk away, tripped, got up, and continued walking.

Raven helped Zoro up, giving him a sarcastic look. "What?" He glared at her.

She kissed him and smiled, "Nothing."


	8. Chapter 7: The party

Sanji woke up to the sound of his alarm going off. Light from the sun shined in threw his opened curtains, showing the lovely view of East Blue Street. He sat up and rubbed the morning out of his eyes and turned off his alarm. His clock said 10:00am. Sanji sighed with relief; today was one of the few days he got where he didn't have to work. But, he still had lots of things he had to do today, one in particular. So that's why even on his day off, he just couldn't sleep in.

He got out of bed and walked into his kitchen and made himself a bowl of lucky charms. Zoro had left the T.V on before going to work, which always ticked Sanji off. But, today he just dealt with it and watched those paid programming that were always on T.V in the morning before the actually shows. Once he was done his cereal, Sanji went back into his room and got dressed. He put on a pink shirt and red tie, with his normal black pants and shoes. Brushed his hair and teeth and was about to step out the door when-

"Don't try to ask her out now." Zoro walked out of his room wearing sweat pants and no shirt, his messy green hair was even messier with bed-head.

Sanji turned, "I thought you were at work."

"I called in sick today."

"But you're not sick." Sanji pointed out.

"So."

Sanji sighed heavily. "Whatever, so why can't I ask Raven-chan out?"

"She sleeps in really late." Zoro walked into the kitchen and pulled out an apple from the fridge.

"Wow, giving me lady tips, how nice." Sanji rolled his eyes. "Fine, after I go grocery shopping I'll ask her. She should be awake by then." He grabbed his car keys and walked out and was soon in his car driving down East Blue Street. He turned the corner onto Skypiea Lane and drove to Upper Yard Grocery Store.

Upper Yard Grocery Store was the only grocery store around Grand Line Town. Unless you counted the one on Warlord Drive, but that was a special Store for only the Seven Warlords and the high ranked marines. Sanji had also heard of another grocery store on the edge of town where only the Celestial Dragons shopped. But for him, Upper Yard was enough; it had everything Sanji needed from Watermelons to any spices. The only thing he didn't like about it was the strange staff they had there.

Sanji walked in and grabbed a cart, he started walking around grabbing things on the shelf that he thought he needed. That's when he walked into one of the staff of Upper Yard Grocery Store, Satori.

"HohoHO, Hellooo Sanji, how are you this fine morning." Satori waved happily. He had long red hair and wide glasses. His staff vest barely fit over his fat belly.

"Hey doughboy, did those fresh tomatoes come in today?" Sanji asked.

"HohoHO! Yes they sure did!"

"Good." Sanji began walking over to the produce section when he turned back to Satori quickly and said, "Ohm's pet dog didn't touch them did he?"

"HohoHO! How the hell would I know HohoHO!" Satori laughed and bounced away.

Sanji rolled his eyes and continued walking while picking up things as he walked. He past by Gedastu who was stacking peas in a can while biting his lip and his eyes rolled back in his head. How that was even possible, Sanji did not know. While Sanji turned into the meat and fish section he spotted Luffy and Ace arguing. He began to walk over and began to listen to their conversation. They took no notice that he was there for some time, till Luffy spotted him.

"Hey look its Sanji." Luffy smiled cheerfully. He had his usual straw hat on and wore a red t-shirt and jean shorts.

"Oh no you don't Luffy, I'm not falling for that again. Don't you even dare touch the meat again!" Ace glared at his brother. He wore no shirt-as usual- except for his red pearl necklace, and black shorts.

"No really look!" Luffy pointed to Sanji, who was now behind Ace.

"No!"

Sanji couldn't take it anymore, "Hey!" He said loudly.

Ace jumped and turned around quickly, "W-what! Oh it is Sanji."

Luffy laughed, "Toldya so!"

Sanji chuckled a little as well, and then turned to Ace, "So anyway, What's up?"

Ace scouted the selections of meat around them, "Oh we're just looking for something to bring for the party tonight."

"What?" Sanji never heard of anyone having a party. "Who's having a party?" He asked.

Ace looked at him like he was insane, "Um, you."

"What! I wasn't hosting a party."

"That's not what Zoro said." Ace pulled out his phone. "See, I got this text this morning. Says, that you guys are having a party and that if you want to show up you have to bring some kind of dish."

"And we're bringing meat on the bone." Luffy added.

Sanji considered this. A party would be nice. It had been a while since the whole group got together, but why hadn't Zoro mentioned this to Sanji. Sanji also realized this was probably why he didn't go to work today. He knew Zoro didn't tell him just to piss him off, and it worked.

"Well tell everyone the parties off." Sanji confirmed. "I didn't know we were having a party, I don't have enough time to clean the house and make dinner and"-

Suddenly Sanji's phone vibrated in his pocket, he grabbed it and checked his messages.

* * *

><p>1 new message.<p>

Raven: Hey what did u want me to bring to the party tonight?

* * *

><p>This message changed Sanji's perspective quite a bit.<p>

"Hooray!" Sanji jumped for joy. "Ace, tell everyone the parties back on, Raven-chan's coming!"

"Who's Raven?" Ace asked. Behind him Luffy wondered off and began putting free beef jerky samples in his pockets.

"Hmmm~ She's an angel. We met her a few days ago."

"Is she hot?" Ace smirked.

"Like the sun." Sanji answered.

"Hm, maybe I'll introduce myself at the party." Ace smiled and then turned around realizing that Luffy was gone. "Luffy!" He called out.

"Yeah well, don't try and pull anything because I called her." Sanji crossed his arms.

"A girl isn't your property, but whatever you say." Ace waved Sanji off and Sanji began to continue his shopping. A few steps away, he could still hear Ace and Luffy arguing.

"Luffy, how many jerky samples did you take?"

"A lot. Hey Ace, can I ride in the cart now?"

"No!"

"Awww, why not?"

"Because you're too big, and last time I let you ride you ate everything in the cart!"

"Really? I don't remember"

Once Sanji thought he had everything he needed, he headed to the check out and met his friend Aiza. She was a young girl with short hair and wore the Upper Yard staff vest that was slightly too big for her.

"Aiza, what are you doing here? Aren't you a little young to be working?" Sanji asked as he piled groceries on the check out.

"Wyper said I had to get out of the house so I asked Gan Fall if I could work here, and he said yes." Aiza said as she beeped out the groceries.

"Are you getting paid?" Sanji asked.

"Of course I am." Aiza smiled evilly."

"Of course." Sanji sighed.

Sanji paid Aiza and put his groceries in bags and walked his cart back to his car, he put the groceries in his car and put the cart back. Sanji also remembered that he needed to stop at Whisky Peak Liquor to get some drinks for the party, so he got in his car and drove off. At Whisky Peak Liquor he spotted someone walking by, it was his friend Nami.

"NAMI-SWAN! How are you today?"

Nami turned in surprised, god she was beautiful, Sanji thought. She seemed to have just come back from work. She wore a blue button shirt and white skirt with a darker blue tie and her blue sandals.

"Oh, hey Sanji." She said with no enthusiasm.

"Nami are you coming to the party too?" Sanji asked dreamily.

"Yes. Me Vivi are, but Nojiko had other plans so she couldn't come."

"Awww what a shame."

"Well I'll see you around Sanji." She waved, which made Sanji's heart skip, and walked off.

"Hmmm, Nami-san's lovely when she waves good-bye."

After that Sanji entered the shop and bought what he needed. Driving back home, Sanji realized he was going to ask Raven out today. He wondered where he should take her. The beach? The park? It was so hard to decide. Sanji had to make the date perfect. He decided he'd ask her at the party.

When he got back to Logue Town Towers he grabbed all the groceries and all the drinks and carefully got into the elevator, then walked into his apartment.

"I'm home." He said drowsily. "Thanks for helping me with the groceries."

"No problem." Zoro said from the couch.

Sanji grumbled to himself as he put the groceries away. "Oh, and also thanks for telling me about the party that we're having."

"Again, no problem." Zoro said from the couch.

"What are you even doing?" Sanji looked over to see the T.V screen. "Are you ordering movies?"

"Yup. I gonna have one from every genre so everyone's happy." Zoro said confidently.

"That's gonna cost us a fortune." Sanji pointed out. He put away the last of the groceries.

"Maybe." Zoro shrugged. Sanji rolled his eyes. Then again, it wasn't like Zoro couldn't pay for all those movies. Sanji on the other hand could not. Zoro must have been thinking the same thing because he spoke up.

"Also, your part of the bills hasn't been paid yet."  
>"I know, I know, just give me a few more days. My pay check comes in soon." Sanji exhaled.<p>

"Whatever."

Sanji checked the time. "What time was the party gonna start?"

"Around four." Zoro yawned.

Sanji thought of this. That meant there was still at least another four hours before the party started. "I-I'm gonna take a quick nap." He said.

Zoro didn't speak for a few moments before replying. "Fine."

Sanji sighed in relief and walked over to his room. Taking the first nap on his day off in over a year.

It only seemed like minutes before Sanji heard the banging on his door. Zoro poked his head in, "Hey, you should get up now. The party's in an hour."

"F-Five more minutes." Sanji said sleepily. "W-What! An hour!" He jumped out of bed. "Why did you let me sleep so late? I still gotta make our contribute to the food a-and I have to clean up and"-

Zoro turned, not facing Sanji. "You needed it." He said quietly.

"What?" Sanji thought he'd heard him wrong. Zoro never said anything of appreciation of what Sanji did. Even though Sanji worked twice what Zoro did and Zoro did absolutely nothing around the apartment. Zoro never did a double take when Sanji was huffing and puffing of exhaustion or falling asleep while he was cutting potatoes. (Which by the way, did not end well) Zoro didn't care, not one bit.

"What I said was that you need to get a move on!" Zoro yelled.

"Ok!" Sanji yelled back and raced to the kitchen and began to prepare the meal.

In no time the meal was soon done. Sanji's hand moved fast, cutting the crab, stirring the pasta and in less then an hour he had a perfect meal finished.

"There." He said proudly.

"What is it?" Zoro walked over and sniffed the meal suspiciously. "Is it edible?"

Sanji glared at him. "Of course its edible you retard. Its spicy seafood pasta."

Zoro yawned. "Well, make my favourite dish too."

"No!" Sanji snarled, "You didn't even bother to wake me up early enough. If you had, I might have had time to make your dish too."

Zoro grabbed a beer from the fridge. "Wow, I don't even get a thank you for letting you sleep in a little."

"So you admit it!" Sanji pointed his finger at Zoro dramatically.

Zoro opened his beer and took a sip, staring at Sanji. Sanji wondered what he was going to say. Was he going to say that Sanji was just acting retarded? Was he going to admit to appreciating Sanji hard work?

Zoro sighed heavily. "I'm not explaining myself to moron."

"A what!" Sanji was ready to kick him there and now. When there was a knock on the door. Sanji glared one more time at Zoro then went to answer the door. When he opened it Nico Robin and Franky greeted him.

"Hey! Is this a SUPER party or what?" Franky boomed. He wore a leopard print shirt that was opened-button and a yellow Speedo. His blue hair pointed up high.

Sanji looked behind him. "Um, thanks?"

"That was a joke dude, this place SUCKS! Where's the streamers the banners?" Franky welcomed himself in and started sizing the place up.

"Franky, its just a little…get together."

"Yeah, yeah. Ok." Franky then spotted Zoro. "Zoro! How are you?"

Sanji ignored Franky and turned to Robin. "And how is my adorable Robin-chan doing?"

Robin grinned at him as she always did. She wore a light purple shirt and tight dark purple jeans. "Wonderful and you Mr. Cook?"

Sanji giggled as he called her "Mr. Cook". "Oh just fantastic, what food did you bring?" Sanji gestured for her to come in.

"Oh me and Franky forgot about it until we were on our way here. So we just picked up some burgers from McDonalds." She handed Sanji the paper bag of burgers.

"Oh that's just amazing Robin." Sanji twirled around her.

"Hey Ballerina, keep your perv paws off my girlfriend would ya?" Franky called over from the kitchen.

"What did you call me?" Sanji walked over and put the McDonalds on the counter and growled at Franky.

Everyone ignored him and Franky turned back to Zoro. "So what were you saying about movies?"

Zoro was glad to ignore Sanji, "Well, I've ordered movies from almost every genre so that everyone's happy."

"What's the first movie?" Robin asked, walking over to Franky and put her hand in his. Sanji felt a slim bit of jealousy.

"Total Recall I'm pretty sure." Zoro walked over to the couch and sat down, Franky and Robin followed him in doing so. Zoro grabbed the remote and checked the latest movie downloads. "Yep. We also got Paranormal Activity 4, the new Star Treak movie and a bunch more."

"Sounds SUPER to me." Franky nodded.

Suddenly, there was another rapid knock on the door. "Sanji! Sanji! Zoro!" Usopp's voice could be heard screaming from the other side.

"What's his problem?" Franky asked.

"He's not doing his Sheldon impression again is he?" Zoro grumbled.

Sanji walked up to the door and opened it; Usopp came tumbling in and fell on the floor, moaning in pain.

"R-Run!" He coughed up what seemed like blood from his mouth. "There's someone in the hall… h-he has a GUN!" Usopp turned over and a gunshot wound could be seen in his chest.

"Usopp!" Franky yelled. He ran up to him and held him dramatically. "Nooo!" Franky yelled to the ceiling. "Such a cruel, cruel world!"

Sanji shook his head. He knew the difference between blood and ketchup.

Then, Usopp stood up and laughed, "Ha ha ha! There's no man with a gun I tricked you! April fools!" He laughed some more before Sanji kicked him upside the head. "Your so damn annoying you know that."

"And it's not even close to April, you idiot." Zoro pointed out.

There was another knock on the door. Sanji instincts told him exactly who it was. He twirled up to the door.

"Nami! Vivi! So lovely to see both of you." He smiled widely.

"That's great, now can you get out of the way, your blocking the door way." Nami pushed him over and pushed threw following Vivi. Nami wore a short yellow skirt and a pink tank top, while Vivi had white shorts on and a red sweater.

"What lovely food did you bring?" Sanji asked Nami.

"Some tangerines and fruit dip." She handed Sanji the tray and Sanji went to put it on the table. "Fruit." He said. Then a picture came into his mind of Nami lying on a bed covered in nothing but-

"Oh yeah, anyone who eats from that tray, it'll be 10,000 berries each." She nodded happily.

Sanji snapped out of his imagination and swayed over to Nami. "Of course you'd say sometime so amazing like that Nami." He said dreamily.

Nami ignored him and leaned down to Zoro, putting her ass high in the air. But only Sanji seemed to notice that.

"Did you get the movie I wanted?" She glared at Zoro as if challenging him to say no.

"Yeah, yeah. I got your stupid ass chick-flick." Zoro grumbled.

"It's not a stupid ass chick-flick, its breaking dawn part two."

"Right." Zoro rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later there was another knock on the door, Sanji ran up hoping it would be Raven, but this time it was their friend Chopper. Sanji smiled down at him, "Hey Chopper how've you been?"

"Good." Chopper walked in. Then he looked up at Sanji, "Why the sad face?"

"Oh. Nothing." Sanji put his smile back on.

Just as Sanji was about to close the door he heard laughing from the hallway.

"Yohohohoho!"

"Brook!" Sanji called out.

Brook came walking in; he had to bend down to get into the doorway because he was so tall. "Yohoho, hello everyone!" Brook came over to the couch with everyone and sat down, beginning to sing a song about friends gathering around a couch. Sanji ignored him and turned to Chopper. "What did you bring to eat?"

Chopper held up a bag of sour candies, his eyes sparkling.

"Of course, put those on the counter over there." Then Sanji heard another knock on the door. He thought for sure it would be Raven. But instead, Luffy's face went up to his.

"Hey Sanji, we brought meat." Luffy grinned.

"I can tell." Sanji pushed Luffy away, his meat breath still lingered.

Ace came up behind him. "Yeah, Luffy had a little…_snacking_ on our way here." He glared at Luffy, carrying a big meat dish a bite taken out of it.

"Right. On the counter." Sanji let them in and looked into the hall. He saw no sign of Raven. Everyone else was here, where was she?

After fifteen minutes since the party started, Sanji couldn't take it anymore. He walked over to Zoro who was talking to Usopp about the latest Black Ops game.

"Zoro, I'm going to go get Raven-chan." Sanji said.

Zoro waved him off. "Whatever."

Sanji huffed determinately and walked into the hallway over to Raven's apartment.


	9. Chapter 8: Raven's troubles

When Sanji made it to Raven's apartment, he was about to knock on her door when he heard a somewhat familiar voice yell. "YOU BITCH!"

Sanji froze on the spot. He was tempted to open the door, but something told him not to. Instead, he leaned in closer, listening.

Raven's voice could be heard, but when she spoke, Sanji almost didn't recognize her. She sounded so scared.

"I-I'm sorry, but… I didn't know where you were. I thought"-

She was interrupted by the same voice Sanji had heard earlier. It was a male voice that Sanji had heard before, but he just couldn't pin point where he'd heard it.

"I don't give a damn if your sorry!" The voice screamed. "I saw you myself. You went on a date with that green haired man. What's he to you, huh? Last time I checked, you were dating ME!"

Sanji held his breath at that last part. He now knew where he'd heard that voice before.

"Well." Raven's voice still quivered but she was trying to sound more confident. "If you bothered to call, or show up after your little _disappearance_."

"I been at work the last few days."

"Right."

Sanji then heard the man yell in rage and he heard the sound of what seemed like a punch, then again and again.

"I'm the one dating you, no one else. Got that!" The man screamed. Then the door opened. Griffin, Raven's boyfriend stood in the doorway. He looked different then when Sanji last saw him. He wore a button shirt that had some buttons undone. His face was dirty and had scratches on it and his hair was messy. He looked at Sanji and gasped. "Your that waiter from before." Then his face turned into a glare. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here." Sanji replied.

"What are doing _here _then? Go back to your own apartment." Griffin demanded.

"No." Sanji peaked into Raven's apartment now that the door was open. She lay on the floor. "I'm here to see Raven-chan." Sanji glared back at Griffin.

Griffin growled and grabbed Sanji by the collar of his shirt, "Now listen here waiter, don't you talk to her again. Or I'll get some people who will smash your face in so hard you won't be able to talk."

Sanji looked back into Raven's apartment. She stared at him, fear in her eyes. A mark on her face was beginning to become visible, in the shape of a fist.

Sanji snapped. He pushed Griffins hand away, then slammed him into the near by hallway wall. "Don't you lay a finger on a lady, especially Raven-chan or _I'll _smash your face in." He wanted to beat the crap out of Griffin right then and there. But something stopped him. Sanji could tell by looking Raven, that she still cared for this creep. And if he killed him, Raven would probably be really upset. He didn't need that. Sanji let go of Griffin. Griffin "Huffed" At him then walked off into the elevator and left.

As soon as Griffin was gone, Sanji ran up to Raven. "Are you ok?"

Raven wouldn't meet eyes with him. "Yeah I'm fine."

"Let me see." Sanji insisted.

"No- I told you I'm"-

"Too bad." Sanji cut her off and put his hand on her cheek. It was red, but didn't seem to be puffing up or anything. He soon realized that he was stroking her cheek, and quickly put his hand down. He then noticed her holding her arm.

"What happened?" He asked.

Raven touched her cheek where Sanji had touched it. "I- Griffin. When he first showed up, he threw my frying pan at me."

"What?" Sanji looked around the room and spotted a frying pan lying on the ground near the couch. "Oh. Well, let me see it."

Raven rolled up her sleeve and winced. Sanji gasped. The upper part of her arm was a dark shade of purple and was double to size of the other arm.

"How hard did he throw it?" Sanji tried to touch it, but Raven backed away.

"Pretty hard." She rolled her sleeve back down and looked up at Sanji. Her pupils were still small and shaky with fear. Sanji had never seen her like this. The past few days he'd seen her, he'd only seen the happy Raven, the Raven that always smiled and laughed. And from what Zoro had told him, she was pretty brave too going up against Buggy and all. But this Raven was nothing like that. He had to help her, but he wasn't good at fixing arms and cuts. But he knew who was.

"Look." Sanji stood up and helped Raven up as well. "My friend Chopper is at our apartment. He's a doctor. I'm sure that if I get him he can"-

"No!" Raven snapped at him.

Sanji flinched, "Why not?"

"D-Do you know how embarrassing this is?" She looked at the ground. "Getting beaten by your boyfriend." Her voice quivered.

Sanji sighed; he wanted to comfort her so badly. But he figured that state she was in; Raven would probably just push her away.

"You need to get cleaned up." Sanji persisted. "I'm getting Chopper, but I won't tell him what happened and I tell him not to ask questions."

Raven bit her lip. "I don't know."

Sanji put his hand on her shoulder, "Please, I-I want you to come to the party. I mean I want you all better."

Raven did a small laugh. "Alright."

Sanji smiled, "Great. Stay here." Sanji walked out and ran back to his apartment. When he came in everyone was crowded around the T.V. Sanji walked up to Zoro who was in the kitchen checking out the different foods.

"Did you put the movies on?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah, couldn't wait for you any longer. So did you find Raven?" Zoro took a tangerine from Nami's dish and ate it.

"Don't do that. And yes I did, but I need Chopper."

"What for?"

"It doesn't matter I just need Chopper." Sanji stated.

Zoro sighed. "Alright, you don't need to shout. I'll get him over here."

Sanji watched as Zoro walked up to Chopper who was sitting with Usopp and whispered something in his ear. Chopper said something back and Zoro shook his head up and down. Chopper looked over and Sanji and walked over.

"Zoro said you need my help." Chopper said determinately.

"Yeah, follow me."

"There, that should stop the swelling for now. But due to the medicine you probably wont be able to feel your arm for the rest of the night." Chopper put a band-aid on the spot where he had put the needle threw.

"Thanks Chopper, you don't know how much this means to me." Raven hugged him and smiled. "You really are a great doctor."

Chopper started doing a dance, " I don't care what you say you moron " He said cheerfully.

"Uh." Raven stared blankly at him.

Sanji scratched his head. "Yeahhh, he does that sometimes." He went up to Chopper. "Thanks for not telling anymore too." He whispered.

Chopper nodded. "No prob, I'll see you at the party." He said good-bye to Raven and walked off into the hallway, then down to Sanji's apartment.

Sanji and Raven sat there in awkward silence.

Sanji spoke up. "So yeah, are you going to the party?" He tried to hide his eagerness.

"I'm not sure. I can't really feel my arm, and look at me. I'm not even dressed."

Usually girls didn't ask Sanji to look at them; usually they asked to _stop _looking at him. But Sanji was surprised he hadn't really checked her out since he saw her.

Her hair was in messy bun, like she'd just woken up from a nap. She wore an old worn out T-shirt that was stuffed into some pyjama pants. Sanji guessed he hadn't noticed she looked so slobby because to him, she always looked beautiful.

"Well, just get dressed." Sanji suggested.

"It's kind of hard to get dressed when you can only use one arm." She raised an eyebrow at him.

Sanji thought of this, he wanted her to go to that party so badly. For the longest time, his friends had made fun of him because he could never get a girlfriend. Sure, Raven wasn't his girlfriend, _yet._ But he had a master plan and in time, hopefully, she would fall head over heels for him. Still, Usopp had Kaya. Franky and Robin started going out a few years ago. Ace had flings with girls all the time. Brook had mentioned he'd been talking to a girl. (But Sanji doubted it, but still.) Even Luffy had Boa tailing after him every now and then. Who did Sanji have? Nobody.

Yet, Raven couldn't go to the party looking like that. He needed everyone to see her looking good. Well, better then she looked now.

"I'll help you."

"What?" Raven shook her head as if she was just thinking about something as well.

"I'll help you get dressed." Sanji said expressionlessly.

"W-What!" Raven's face went red. "And j-just how are you going to do that?"

"I can close my eyes and help you"-

"No!" Raven yelled.

Sanji stared at her, only knowing him for a few days and she had already figured him out.

"Fine." He sighed heavily. "I guess you don't trust me." He looked up at her.

Raven frowned. "Oh no you don't! Don't you dare give me the puppy dog eyes, those do not work on me."

Sanji continued looking at her, giving her the most adorable face he could.

Raven's lip quivered. Then she sighed and looked away. "Fine! Ok! Let's get this over with." She grabbed Sanji's arm and dragged him down the hallway. Sanji couldn't stop smiling.

Raven walked into her bedroom, and of course, it was a mess too.

Thank god Sanji hadn't been bothered to look around her apartment, but it was a disaster. Garbage covered everything and her dirty clothes filled in the gaps. Her room wasn't any different. But Thank god Sanji only stared at her.

Raven dug in her closet and pulled out an outfit using her good hand and tossed it to Sanji. Thank god she was already wearing a bra and panties, she didn't need Sanji having to put those on her.

"Alright. Close your eyes." She ordered.

Sanji looked at her one more time, and then closed his eyes slowly. Raven looked at his face for a moment. His blonde hair to the one side of his face made Raven wonder about his left eye. She also liked the few whiskers of hair he had on his chin. But most of all, was that curly eyebrow…

Ever since Raven had gone on that date with Zoro, she'd started to come to terms that maybe, just maybe she like Sanji. He wasn't the first guy she would have gone for. Her types were mostly bad boy, or buffed out guys who hid their feelings and stuff, Someone like Zoro. But from her date with him she had also figured out something. She definitely didn't like him, plus he liked that Tashigi girl. Anyway, Sanji was nothing like that. He wasn't so buff as he was slender and skinny. And you could almost always tell what he was thinking just by looking at his face. Yet, he had some qualities that Raven did like. First of all, he had stood for her when that whole Griffin thing had happened. No matter how embarrassed she was to be hurt by a guy, Sanji had been there and was worried about her. Which made her wonder what he thought of her. She was pretty sure she knew, then again, you could never be sure with guys.

"Um, So how are we gonna do this?" Sanji asked. Raven realized she'd been staring at him for a while.

"R-Right." You couldn't blame her for being nervous. It wasn't everyday some guy helped you get dressed. Raven used her one good arm and took of her pyjama pants.

"Ok, pants first." She said.

Sanji held out her pants so that she could step into them. As she slipped her legs threw, she felt very aware of Sanji hands rubbing against her legs as she did so. She wasn't sure if he was doing that on purpose or not.

Once her pants were on, Raven asked Sanji to do the button for her.

"You do realize that's hard to do with your eyes closed." Sanji frowned.

"You'll manage." Raven insisted. "You do want me to go to that party right? Hurry it up."

"Ok, Ok." Sanji felt his way around for her jean button and tried to put it threw the button whole. Again, Raven was very conscious of his hand near well…you know.

It took a little longer, the button was soon threw and Sanji sighed in relief, "Finally."

"Alright." Raven felt a sweat drop on her face, why? "Now…I'll need your help taking my shirt off."

Sanji blushed, "O-Ok."

"I'll use my good arm and you act as the other arm, got it?"

"Yeah."

"And don't try any funny business." Raven added quickly.

Sanji's face grew redder, "W-What's that suppose to mean!"

"Just hurry!" Raven complained.

"OK!"

Together they worked to try and get Raven's shirt off. It was a baggy shirt, so it was easier, but still difficult when you have two different hands working on it.

"To the right more!" Raven said.

"I am!" Sanji seemed to be glaring, but Raven couldn't tell with his eyes closed.

That's when Raven noticed that Sanji's hands were shaking slightly. His face also seemed more determined.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"F-Fine, why?" he asked back.

"Well your hands are shaking." Raven pointed out.

Sanji almost opened his eyes to see his hands, but he held back and closed them tightly. "I-I'm fine." He answered, but he said it as if it were a question.

"If you say so. Now, watch out for my head." Raven warned.

"Right."

With another tug the shirt was off. Raven felt thankful that that was finally over. Sanji seemed so to, because he exhaled deeply.

"And finally, the shirt." Raven said.

"Alright, hand it to me." Sanji asked.

"I did."

"No you didn't." Sanji made a confused face, still with his eyes closed.

"I swear I did." Raven looked around, then she spotted her shirt beside Sanji. She froze for a moment. She swore she gave it to him. She pushed off the thought and reached out to give it to him.

That's when things went crazy.

Sanji went to grab her shirt. Raven didn't know if it was by accident, or on purpose. But when Sanji went to grab the shirt from her, let's just say… he didn't grab the shirt.

"Sanji!" Raven screamed.

"W-What! I'm trying to get the shirt." It happened again.

"Sanji!" Raven screamed again.

This time Sanji seemed to realize what he did. "Oh." He said in a small voice, blood trickled from his nose.

Raven felt her face burning hot. She didn't know what to do; she just sat stood there. She wondered what would happen if she kissed him? Well he had just grabbed her boob, probably on purpose. And he probably had this motive from the start. So what if they just…you know. Raven wouldn't deny the fact that for that moment, she was the tinniest tempted to-

Then Sanji did the stupidiest thing, he opened his eyes, "So"- He began, but it was interrupted by a mighty slap on the face.

* * *

><p><strong>I just read the last few paragraphs xD im laughing and I've read it about 10 times before...that shows how much of a life I don't have ;-; but anyway... just wanted to warn some readers that in about 5-7 chapters or so things start to get a little much for the "T" Rating so that'll be changed when those chapters get posted.<strong>


	10. Chapter 9: One hell of a kick

Sanji made sure that she introduced herself to everyone at the party. Though whenever Sanji tried to talk to her, she gave him a dirty look and didn't listen to him. So he walked over to the kitchen to check out the buffet table. Zoro was waiting for Sanji.

"What took you guys so long?" Zoro asked. "And why did you have to send Chopper with you the second time?"

"Shhh…not so loud." Sanji pushed him away to fridge and opened it. "Raven promised me not to tell anyone."

Zoro's eyes widened. "I can't believe it, you actually"-

"NO!" Sanji yelled. A few of his friends looked back to see what the sound was coming from.

"No…No juice, I gotta make juice." He smiled widely and pulled out some frozen juice from the freezer. His friends turned back to the movie.

Sanji sighed and put the juice back, and then faced Zoro. "No, I- _we _didn't do what you think we did."

"Few." Zoro sighed in relief. "Then what did happen?"

"I can't tell you." Sanji said.

"Come on. Obviously something happened. Raven won't look at you; you're all on edge. So what happened?" Zoro persisted.

Sanji bit his lip. He never broke a promise concerning a woman.

"If you don't tell me"- Zoro began.

"I grabbed her boob." Sanji spitted out.

Zoro's eyes widened. "You what."

"But that's just why Raven's mad. Also I kind of helped her get dressed, and I wasn't suppose to look, but I looked." Sanji rambled on about how he'd gone to go get Raven and Griffin had been there. Then he mentioned how he'd gotten Chopper to fix her up, then things went bad when he tried to help her get dressed.

"I can't believe she actually let you." Zoro chuckled. "I mean, you obviously had that objective from the start."

Sanji rubbed his arm nervously, "Well sort of, the boob things was actually by accident."

"You're a liar." Zoro shook his head.

"No really! I-I was planning to make a move on her _after _I got her dressed."

"Of course. Then you had to make the stupid mistake of opening your eyes. Amateur." Zoro rolled his eyes. Then he spotted something behind Sanji and his eyes widened.

"What?" Sanji turned around and was face-to-face with Raven.

"Sanji." She glared.

"Y-Yeah?" Sanji prayed to god that she wasn't there the whole time.

"There are girls here."

"Uh, yeah. So?"

"Wouldn't it have been so much easier if you got one of _them _to…help me." She noticed Zoro behind him and closed her mouth.

"I thought you said it was embarrassing, so you didn't want anybody to know."

"Not if there were other girls here!" Raven raised her voice and then marched away.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What I don't understand is that why you didn't just make a move on her while you were taking-her-clothes-off." He punched Sanji in the head.

Sanji knew he was going to ask that. "I don't know." He said quietly.

Personally, Sanji knew. He had been nervous. Never in his life had he ever been really nervous around a girl, he had enough confidence to kill a dinosaur. (Been there, done that) Yet for some reason, his hands began to shake, he was sweating everywhere. Sanji figured it was because he really didn't want to mess anything up. "I just felt really nervous." He told Zoro. "Like if she was glass, and if I touched her the wrong way, I'd break her."

"That's called liking a girl, ever felt that before?"

Sanji turned and Ace was behind him. "Who was the girl?"

"N-No one." Sanji looked away.

Zoro rolled his eyes, "He's hung up on the new girl, Raven."

All three of them turned around and stared at Raven. She was conversing with Usopp about something. But Sanji didn't care. He loved the way Raven moved the hair out of her face while she talked, but a few moments later it would fall back on and she'd move it out of the way again.

"That girl?" Ace asked. "That's Raven?"

"Yeah." Sanji sighed dreamily.

"Well, I just asked her out a few minutes ago." Ace said casually. "We're going a on date tomorrow."

"Yeah. Yeah" Sanji said still in a daze, then he grasped what Ace had just said.

"WAIT, WHAT!" Sanji screamed.

"What's going on back there? Sanji sure knows how to scream like a girl, Yohoho!" Brook laughed.

"Sanji is something wrong?" Franky asked loudly.

"Uh- N-Nothings wrong." Sanji said, but from the tone of his voice, clearly something _was _wrong.

"Raven, can you see what those idiots are doing?" Nami asked.

Raven sat beside her. She defiantly didn't want to talk to Sanji, but she was curious as to what was going on.

"Sure." She stood up and walked over.

The boys were in deep conversation, and didn't seem to notice her coming over. She saw Sanji arguing with Ace, then Sanji slammed his head on the counter and Zoro patted his back.

"What's the matter?" Raven asked. "Everyone wants you to keep quiet, they're trying to watch the movie."

"We are very sorry Raven." Zoro nodded heedlessly. "It's just that Sanji's upset that he's a pussy and he couldn't as you out, _or _pull a bolder move on you when he was getting you dressed. He just really wants to have sex with you." Zoro concluded.

The kitchen became very quiet.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sanji kicked Zoro in the head.

"What? It's true." Zoro said stupidly.

"You don't say that in front of her! What happen to bro's before hoe's with you!" Sanji argued.

"You just called Raven a hoe." Ace pointed out.

Sanji face turned red, "I didn't mean her- I meant"-

"Well you're the one who told me you grabbed her boob." Zoro rubbed his head.

"By mistake!"

"No you told me it was purpose."

"What!" Sanji raised his arms in the air.

Raven walked up to Sanji slowly.

"L-Look Raven-chan." Sanji stuttered. "I don't know wh-what he's talking about. I-I'd never"-

Raven swung her legs quickly and kicked Sanji in the crotch. He grumbled to the floor and Raven walked off onto their balcony. She heard Zoro talking to Sanji. "Hey maybe you two _are _meant to be together, you both have one hell of a kick."

The air flowed softly. Cars beeped and honked as they drove down East Blue Street. Raven sat on one of the chairs put her head in her hands. Boys make things so complicated, Raven thought. Why couldn't they all just tell them how they felt? Then again, Raven didn't do that either.

Then she started thinking about the guy who had asked her out. Ace, was his name. He seemed nice. Definitely her type, and apparently he never wore a shirt, which was ok too. But from what Raven had just heard, Sanji was planning on asking her out too. She didn't know how she felt about that. If he did, would she have said yes?

Raven heard the sound of the screen door opening; she looked up and saw Sanji standing there. He spotted her too, and was about to leave when Raven called out.

"Wait."

Sanji paused, then walked back onto the balcony. He pulled a smoke and lighter from his pocket and lit one.

"Griffin isn't a bad person." She said. "He just does stupid things and doesn't think." She didn't know why she was saying this.

Sanji put the smoke to his mouth, and then exhaled. Smoke floated around him.

Raven continued. "He's hit me a few times, but always apologies after. But today, he didn't." She felt her lip trembling. "But he's very protective of me, and hates when other guys flirt with me." She realized that what she was saying sounded a lot like Sanji, besides the hitting part of course. But the look on his face when he'd seen her, lying there on the ground before in her apartment. It was the same face that Griffin made sometimes.

"That must be hard for him, seeing as you're so beautiful." He smiled, but didn't look at her.

Raven probably should have been mad at him, trying to hit on her after what had happened in the kitchen. But for some reason she couldn't stay mad at him.

Instead of yelling at him, she blushed. "I-I guess." Then she lowered her head, "I have tried to break up with him before. But every time I try, he threatens to hit me, or call someone to come after me." She hoped she hadn't spilled too much about Griffins job. He had told her when he had showed up at her house before. He had also said it was a secret and that she couldn't tell anyone.

Sanji exhaled again and more smoke flew out of his mouth. "Has he ever tried to kill you?"

Raven didn't answer.

Sanji puffed out one more mouth of smoke, and then put the smoke in the ash try next to him. He turned to face Raven and smiled.

"If he comes at you again, call me first. I'll protect you."

"Now! Twilight next!" Nami exclaimed excitedly.

All the guys sighed heavily.

"Fine, but next we get to watch a scary movie." Zoro said.

"Fine, I'm leaving after this one anyway, so do what you want." Nami crossed her arms.

"Fine."

Luffy turned to Sanji. "Can we order pizza?"

Sanji stared at Nami a few more moments, when she crossed her arms it made her cleavage line longer. He turned back to face Luffy and answered. "There's a huge buffet of food behind you, that you've already demolished half of." Sanji pointed out.

"But there wasn't any pizza." Luffy stuck out his lower lip "Please Sanji."

"Nope."

"Sanji your mean." Luffy pouted.

"I'm ok with that."

"Guys! Shut up over there, Zoro's gonna start the movie." Nami barked at Sanji and Luffy.

"Yes sir Nami-swan!" Sanji pretended to zip his mouth shut and he stayed quiet. But he spotted Raven looking at him funny, but she shook her head and looked away.

During the whole movie almost everyone was falling asleep or talking threw it all except for Nami, Vivi, and even Usopp seemed interested in it. Brook, Franky and Robin were having a conversation about something. Ace and Zoro were talking in whispers and Sanji wondered what they were talking about because every few words Zoro would point to Raven's direction. Raven was arguing with Chopper as to who was hotter, Jacob or Edward. Then finally, when the movie was over, Ace jumped from his seat and yelled. "Thank god!" In which case Nami slapped him upside the head.

"Ok, in about ten minutes it'll be 10:30. That's when I'll start the other movie for those who are staying."

Nami, Vivi and Chopper left then while everyone else took bathroom breaks and had a few more samples of the buffet table.

Sanji went outside for another smoke. He leaned on the chair and put his feet up on the small table in front of him. He listened to the sound of the cars beeping and buzzing by. As the night got later though, the sounds stopped and all you could hear was the sound of silence.

Sanji wished he could go back in time. Like those shows on T.V where they go back in time to fix what's right. Well Sanji wished he could go back in time and fix a lot of things. He wishes he could go back in time and tell Zoro not to embarrass him in front of Raven. He wish he could go back and tell Ace not to ask her out. He wishes he could fix the fact he was a perverted, tobacco addicted weirdo. He wish he could fix the fact that Zeff had sacrificed his leg for him, or that the only family he knew on The Orbit hadn't been washed out in a huge storm. But some things…you couldn't change.

But right now he most concerned about Raven. He wasn't the kind of man to give up on a girl. No matter how many times she hit him or yelled at him. Or even no matter how many restraining orders he got. Sure, Ace had got a date with her, and sure, they seemed like a good match. And maybe, just maybe they might end up dating or worse. But Sanji wouldn't give up on her. He had a gut feeling that he was meant to be with her. Then again, he got that feeling with most girls he met.

He finished his smoke and walked back inside for the next movie. He made it just in time. Just as he walked in, the lights went out.

"Hurry up Sanji!" Usopp complained.

"I'm coming." Sanji walked over and sat between Usopp and Zoro.

The movie went on. Scary movies were ok to Sanji, but they weren't his favourite. He got bored and his eyes left the T.V and wondered the room. He noticed Raven and Ace were sitting beside each other on the love seat to the left of the larger couch he was sitting on. Raven hid her head on Ace's chest and Ace kept smiling at Zoro. Sanji tried to figure out what was going on. He leaned over to Zoro and whispered.

"Why does Ace keep looking over here? And why is Raven-chan's head on his chest?" He asked.

Zoro chuckled slightly. "Uh, I gave Ace a few…_pointers _about Raven that I found out when going on a date with her.

"What pointers? And why didn't you tell me?" Sanji said, offended.

Zoro leaned in closer, his breath smelt like beer and salt and vinegar chips. "Um, because I don't like you."

"Wow thanks."

"Your welcome. And all I told Ace was that Raven loves scary movies." Zoro shrugged with a smile. "And that sitting next to her might be the beset option."

Sanji could see that. Raven was all over Ace; it made Sanji clench his fist. Zoro looked down. "Hey now, don't get all mad."

"I'm-not." Sanji said gritted his teeth and shut up till the movie was over.'

Raven and Ace sat on the couch together. Zoro was in the kitchen, Sanji had gone out for another smoke, Usopp had left along with Franky and Robin and Luffy had gone to the bathroom. So they were all alone.

"Did you like the movie?" Ace asked her.

Raven nodded. "Yeah."

"Then why were you hiding your head on my chest the whole time? You barely even watched the movie." Ace chuckled.

"I don't know. I like scary movies, but I guess they kind of scare me." Raven shrugged her shoulders.

"Kind of?"

Zoro walked back over to the kitchen; Raven almost asked him to go away. She liked being alone with Ace. He was those kind of guys who act all tuff when their around everyone, but then acted different when they were alone with you.

"So, where you taking her tomorrow?" Zoro asked Ace, though he kept his eyes down at his phone. Raven realized he'd been texting someone a lot since she got here.

"I was planning on taking her to that Water 7 theme park."

"Hey! Don't spoil it, I wanted it to be a surprise!" Raven protested.

Ace shrugged which made his muscles show slightly. "Sorry?"

"There's a tunnel of love there you know." Zoro raised an eyebrow at Raven.

"Shut up." Raven felt her face warm up. Ace laughed casually, but Raven saw that he was blushing too. She liked the fact that when he blushed, it made his freckles disappear for a moment. God he was cute.

Sanji came out from outside, his face full of emotion but Raven wasn't sure which one. She wondered what Sanji had thought about out there.

"So what movie is next?" He noticed Raven looking at him and tried to make a straight face.

Zoro grabbed the remote and searched threw his movies. "Ted?" He said.

Everyone agreed on it and Zoro put the movie on.

Half way threw, Ace got worried that Luffy hadn't come back yet. So he went to go check on him. He came back ten minutes later and confirmed that Luffy had fallen asleep on the toilet and that he had put Luffy in Zoro's room.

Several minutes after that, Raven's phone rang.

"I'll be right back you guys." She walked into the kitchen and answered her phone.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hey, it me." Griffin's voice answered.

Raven gasped. "G-Griffin? What are you"-

"Look. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I did."

"Y-Your sorry?" Raven noticed Sanji looking back at her, she tried to talk quieter.

"Look Griffin, that's nice and all but"-

"I just really need to talk to you. I'm on my way to your place."

"What!" Raven yelled. Ace, Zoro and Sanji all turned their heads this time.

"What! Your getting married Tamaki? That's amazing." She nodded her head to her friends that everything was fine, but Sanji made a worried face.

"Who-Tamaki?" Griffin said, confused.

Raven talked really quiet on the phone, almost a whisper. "Look, I'm at a party right now. So come over tomorrow or something."

"No." Griffin demanded. "I'm coming over now."

"No Griffin wait"-

"No you wait. Whose party are you at?"

Raven didn't answer, she heard Griffin growling on the other end.

"Are you hanging out with that green haired guy again?"

"No of course not."

"Or that waiter!" Griffin raised his voice.

"Look"-

"You are, aren't you? That's it. I'm on my way." Griffin hung up.

Raven sighed heavily. She felt like she was going to cry. Her lip quivered and her eyes became watery.

"You ok?" She hadn't noticed it; But Sanji was now standing in front of her. She saw that his face was full of worry.

Raven wasn't sure if she should tell him the truth. He had promised to protect her, but Raven hated being protected by other people. She liked facing her problems on her own. But…

"I think your party's about to be crashed." She looked into his one visible eye. "Griffin's on his way."


	11. Chapter 10: Griffin's true colours

Some people may have thought that the cheesy line, "I'll protect you." Was just a joke. But Sanji was ready to fight to the death if Raven was involved. He could tell she was starting to get scared again. He checked to make sure the other guys weren't looking, and then he put his hands on her cheeks. Raven didn't flinch.

"If he shows up, I _will _protect you. He won't hurt you again."

Raven put her hands on his, which surprised him, but he wasn't complaining.

"O-Ok." Raven stuttered. She pushed Sanji's hands away and walked back to the couch and sat beside Ace.

Sanji stood there in the kitchen alone. His hands still tingled from the warmth of her face. He couldn't believe Raven had actually let her do that. Now he was just getting confused. She was going on a date with Ace. She was mad at him for grabbing her boob, which by the way he didn't actually do because she had a bra on. (Sanji made sure to keep that image in his mind for later) Yet she still laughed with him and blushed when he called her beautiful. Man, girls were so confusing.

He sat back on the couch too and finished watching the movie. During the whole movie, there had been no sign of Raven's boyfriend, Griffin. Maybe he wasn't going to come after all. Raven might have considered this too, because after the movie she said she had to go home.

"See ya Raven." Ace gave her a hug that lasted a little too long for Sanji's taste. Then Raven said good-bye to Zoro.

"Hey wait a minute Raven." Zoro whispered to her, but Sanji was close enough that he could hear him. "I just wanted to thank you. Thanks to you, Tashigi started texting me again and I think I'm gonna ask her out soon."

Raven smiled brightly. "No problem."

Sanji turned around and pretended he didn't hear that. Zoro and Tashigi were getting back together? Wonderful. That just made Sanji feel even more alone. When Zoro walked back to the couch. Sanji said his good-byes to Raven.

"I guess he decided not to come." Sanji shrugged.

Raven rubbed the arm that had been hit by the frying pan. "I guess so."

"I'll see you around I suppose." Sanji said.

"Yeah."

"I hope you and Ace have a great date." He added in.

Raven sighed, "Look Sanji…"

"Yeah?" Sanji hoped she would say that she had cancelled the date. Or that she really loved him instead. But she just shook her head. "Never mind." And left the apartment.

Sanji's shoulders drooped. He felt Zoro put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, if she starts dating Ace, you can just help her get dressed again."

"Shut up." Sanji walked to his room and closed the door behind him.

Raven walked down the hallway. She wondered if it had been the right decision to leave Sanji the way she did. Had it been harsh? Raven just didn't know what to do. She had come to the conclusion that she _did _want to go on that date with Ace. But if she told Sanji that, who knows what he would have said. Things were so complicated, and she wasn't even dating anyone yet.

Then she noticed that when she got to her door. It was already opened.

"Oh no." She gasped. She ran inside.

If her house had been a mess before, then she didn't know how to describe what it looked like now. The couch had been flipped upside down and the cushions were missing. Her T.V had a crack in it. All her kitchen appliances were all over the house. She ran into every room and each was worse then the last one. But she didn't see any sign of Griffin. She walked into the living room and tried to lift the couch back up. That's when she heard a sound behind the front door. Griffin stood there. He closed the door behind him and locked it. "Hello Raven." He smiled.

Raven wanted to yell for help, but there was no one around to protect her now.

"G-Griffin." She stuttered. "I thought you were coming to the party. Why did you change your mind?"

Griffin walked in and leaned on the kitchen counter. "Like the way I decorated your place. Seems much better now."

Raven clenched her fist. "Get out. Your not welcomed here anymore."

"Now Raven." Griffin walked closer. "Is that anyway to talk to your boyfriend?" He smiled again. "And the reason I didn't come to your happy little party was that I didn't feel like killing someone today. Had a rough day already." He took of his shirt and Raven saw that he was bleeding all over.

"Remember my job I told you about. It can be quite dangerous you see, would you mind helping me clean myself up?"

Raven wanted him out now, but he was blocking the only way out. Maybe if she did was he asked, he would leave without hurting her? "Sure thing, sit down." Raven went into the bathroom and tripped over the shower curtain that was now on the ground. She pulled out her first-aid kit underneath the sink and walked back into the living room. Griffin sat on the couch that was now back upright. Raven sat beside him and started attending to his wounds.

Once she was done he sighed in happiness. "Thanks."

Raven's fear started to subside. She closed the first-aid kit. "No problem."

Griffin turned to face her. Raven tried to look away, but couldn't.

"I _am _sorry what the way I've been acting." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "It's just that works been kind of stressing me out."

Raven couldn't really think straight. She just nodded in agreement. Griffin leaned close to her and kissed her. Why wasn't she moving away? This creep had ruined her life countless times. He'd hit her and almost killed her. He'd trashed her home and destroyed stuff that would cost her lots to repair. But for some reason, she kissed him back. She started to forgive him for everything he did, just as she always did.

Then Griffin stopped kissing her. " I hope you forgive me." He whispered.

Raven didn't want him to stop. She grabbed his head and put it against hers. "I do." She said.

"Good. That means you won't be mad when I tell you." Griffin smiled.

"Mad about what?" Raven raised her eyebrow.

"Well, since I felt to tired to kill your friends. I ordered my mafia men to kill them."

Raven sat there in shock, the words slowly coming to her brain as if her brain was breaking. Then when she finally understood what he had said, she pushed him away.

"H-How could you." She gasped for air.

"I thought you'd say something like that." Griffin sighed heavily as if he were expecting this. "Don't worry, it was easy for me to do so, being the mafia bosses son you know. And I just ordered them to kill the green-haired man and that waiter." He grabbed her and put his arm around her, but it wasn't a peaceful gesture. He tightened his grip and made Raven's sides hurt. "But with them out of the way, you'll have no more worries and I can finally marry you."

"Wh-what!" Raven tried to get out of his grip, but it was no use. "I never said I'd marry you!"  
>"Well if I remembered correctly you did just say <em>I do<em>" Griffin's smile turned evil.

"No!" Raven didn't know what to do.

"Now, that's no attitude for a bride. Let's have a kiss, future Miss Griffin Tomerson."

"No! Let me go!" Raven slipped under his arms and ran for the front door. She had to make it to Sanji. If she got close enough to his apartment, maybe he could hear her. But Griffin was fast, just as Raven had her hands on the doorknob, Griffin grabbed her again.

"San…!"- She screamed, but Griffin seized her throat. "Don' be doing that Raven. That waiter isn't going to save you."

All the happy thoughts she had of Griffin disappeared. Any thought that he wasn't such a bad guy went away. Griffin _was _a bad guy, a horrible guy. She had to get away and get help. Maybe if she screamed loud enough Sanji or even Zoro could hear her from their apartment. Or maybe Ace was just leaving and he was in the hallway.

Griffin seemed to know what she was thinking; he put both hands around her throat and tightened his grip. "How about you go for a little sleep now? And we can practice our honeymoon night?"

Raven felt the air leaving her body as Griffin strangled her. She wondered if she would wake up once she blacked out. A tear fell from her eye as she thought of Sanji, and how hard he wanted to protect her and the look on his face when he found her here, probably dead. The world started to spin and soon she passed out. The image of Griffin's face over hers stayed in her mind.

Raven rubbed her eyes. The familiar feeling of her bed touched her skin. Then she remembered what had happened and she shot upright. She looked down and saw that she was naked. Every part of her body ached with pain. As she got out of bed, she lost her balance and fell to the floor. She stood back up and staggered across the hall, past the living room into her bathroom and looked in the mirror.

Her hair was a horrible mess and she had a huge bump on her forehead. She looked closer and noticed red marks around her neck. _Probably from Griffin_, She thought. Her apartment was still a horrible mess. She walked back into the living room and saw that her paintings in the corner were unharmed. She sighed with relief, but wondered why Griffin hadn't destroyed those too.

After that it hit her. Griffin had ordered his mafia buddies to kill Sanji and Zoro. She looked outside and guessed that it was the late morning. What if Sanji and Zoro were already…

She ran into her room and grabbed her housecoat and put it on. Then she ran out the door and down the hallway. Once she reached Sanji and Zoro's apartment she banged on the door with her fist repeatedly.

Finally, Sanji answered the door. "Who in the hell?"-

He saw Raven and his eyes widened. "R-Raven-chan! Are you ok?"

Raven blinked hard. Her head hurt badly. "Sanji…"

"Y-You look horrible. You have cuts on you and your head"- Then he noticed the marks on her neck. "What"-

"I-you…Griffin." Raven stammered out.

"Griffin did this?" Sanji asked. Raven saw fire in Sanji's eyes.

She felt light headed and fell. Sanji caught her in his arms. "The mafia." Raven stated. "H-He called the mafia. Their coming for you and Zo"-

"Never mind that Raven-chan. Was Griffin the one that did that to you?" He enquired.

"That d-doesn't m-matter," Raven felt her eyes water. "Your gonna be killed!" Raven lost her strength again and passed out.

* * *

><p>"So do we take her to the hospital?" Sanji asked. He sat next to Raven who he had laid on the couch.<p>

"No. That would just complicate things. She's not hurt so much as she is confused. But something _did _happen there." Zoro stood over the both of them and looked at the marks on Raven's neck. "From what it looks like, I'd say he strangled her. Or tried to at least."

Sanji felt helpless. He had promised he would protect her, but Griffin had gotten to her anyway. He knew he should have checked on her last night. "T-This is my fault." He stroked Raven's cheek as she slept.

"It's Griffins fault." Zoro seemed just as shaken up as Sanji was. "But what she said about the mafia. Do you think he's really the bosses son?"

Sanji could believe that, based on the way he acted. "Yeah, and what Raven-chan said was probably true. He most likely sent his goons after us. Then when Raven-chan went to go tell us…" He didn't need to finish. She had gotten hurt trying to warn them most likely.

Sanji felt a tingle on his hand. He looked over and saw that Raven's hand had grabbed his. Her eyes opened slowly and she sat up.

"Uhh, my head." She moaned, rubbing the side of her head.

Sanji sat on the couch next to her. Raven blinked a few more times, and then became aware that Sanji was next to her and her eyes became wild. "G-Griffin! The mafias after you guys, its all my fault!" She put her head in her hands.

"It's not your fault." Sanji tried to cheer her up. "It's Griffin's fault for…" He looked at the red hand marks around her neck. She seemed to notice him looking at covered them with her hands.

"Did he really…?" Zoro stared at her in bewilderment. She nodded slowly.

Sanji felt his blood boil. Once he found that son of a bitch he was going to kill him. No second thought. No one _ever _tried to kill Raven while he was around.

He checked the time on a wall clock close by. "I gotta go, I'm gonna be late for work." He didn't want to leave Raven. But if she stayed here with Zoro, she should be safe. Plus, if he missed anymore work, the geezer was going to have his head.

"What?" Raven gasped. "You can't go to work! What If the mafia comes!"

Sanji tried to hide his excitement. Raven-chan was worried about him!

"Trust me, I can take a mafia guy. Meanwhile I want you to stay here with Zoro." He looked up at him. "If I even come back and Raven-chan has a scratch on her." He glared.

Zoro laughed and nodded. "Don't worry she's in safe hands, but what about Ace? He was going on a date with her today remember?"

Sanji almost forgot about that. "Text him and tell him what happened. Then tell him to come here, Raven-chan will decide if she's still up to the date or not." Sanji looked Raven, but she wouldn't meet eyes with him.

"Right." Zoro seemed to feel the awkwardness between them.

"Ok, I gotta go." Sanji stood up and headed for the door.

"Wait! Sanji!"

Sanji turned and saw Raven run off the couch and up to him. She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Sanji stood there in shook for a few seconds. Then looked down at her. "I'll be fine, don't worry." But Raven didn't let go of him, and Sanji didn't stop her.

After a few moments he said. "Ok, now if you want me to stay alive, you should let me go. If I'm late for work, Zeff's gonna kill me."

Raven laughed a little and let him go and wiped her eyes. _Had she been crying? _Sanji took one last look at her, and then headed out the door.

Raven stared at the door. Zoro sighed and said, "Hey, you gonna be ok?"

Raven turned to him. "Yeah."

Zoro smiled. "Guess now we're getting to know the real Raven. The one that's not always perfect and hot. But the one that looks like a mess and has crazy ass boyfriends."

"Shut up." Raven grinned.

"Also you should go get dressed, Ace will be here in a little bit."

Raven looked down at herself. "Your right, I don't even have clothes on under this."

"You don't?" Zoro tried to look down her housecoat.

"Zoro!"

"I'm joking!"

* * *

><p>Sanji decided to walk to work today. He didn't live far away and he thought if would be better to run into a mafia man when he wasn't in a car. He'd seen enough movies to figure that out.<p>

"Damn bastard, hurting Raven-chan like that." He mumbled to himself. "Still- she did hug me though." He felt his nostrils flair up. She had never hugged him before and it had felt pretty great. He tried not to think about it however. He needed to focus. Any minute somebody could come and-

Sanji heard movement from a nearby bush.

_"Well that was quick." _He sighed. "Hey who's there?"

A man appeared from out of the bush. He looked kind of like a wolf. He stood upright, but had a pointy tail and ears. His hair was in a braid down his back and he had sunglasses.

"Damn, why do I get stuck with the waiter while Kaku gets the cool swordsmen." The wolf man complained. "Oh well." Out of nowhere he charged at Sanji. Sanji dodged, but only barely.

"Who the hell are you." Sanji asked.

"Just shut up so I can make this quick." He pointed his index finger out and stabbed Sanji in the stomach. It felt like he just got shot, pain exploded inside him and he coughed up blood. He withdrew and looked around. Sanji spotted a group of circus clowns doing an act down the street. That's when he got an idea.

He ran down the street as quick as he could. "Can you catch up to me wolfy?" He taunted.

"Damn." The wolf man chased after him.


	12. Chapter 11: Ace's date

**ok, so first things first is that im gonna do a short explanation on the world in which this story consists in. Basically. just imagine it as One Piece...only in the 21th century. So yes there are Fishmen, Skypeians, mermaids, long arm tribe.. whatever! basically everything that's in one piece, is in here...**

**So are there devil fruits? NO!**

**Why? I don't know...I just thought id leave them out. the end.**

**So...**

**Can luffy stretch? No. but he can still punch and is still strong.**

**Zoro still uses Swords? Yes.**

**Ace use fire? NO. **

**Sanji use fire? he can light up his leg, only if there is fire around him for him to set his leg on fire.**

**World government? Yes. but I've changed the way things work to make the story more interesting...but I don't wanna give away too much.**

**Seven warlords? Yes.**

**Four emperors? Yes, but their more like well known thugs I guess you could say...**

**is franky still a cyborg? Yes.**

**Are brook and chop-**

**YES YES! its all still the same. now lets get back to the story please?**

* * *

><p>Raven walked out of her apartment. She had picked out an outfit, but decided to get changed in Sanji and Zoro's apartment, just to be safe.<p>

She walked in and Zoro was sitting on the couch watching T.V. Raven walked up to him and sat on the couch. "Listen, I was wondering if you could do me a favour."

"Sure, what?"

"Well, Griffin kind of trashed my house and while I'm out I was wondering if you could clean up a little."

Zoro nodded. "No problem."

Raven smiled. "Thanks." She kissed him on the cheek and got up to go change. Something had still been bugging her that she needed someone to talk to about. She looked back at Zoro. "Hey Zoro."

Zoro turned, "Yeah?"

Raven didn't really know how to say it. She looked down at the floor. "W-When I woke up after Griffin had choked me." She bit her lip. Should she really be telling Zoro this? She already decided that she was _not _going to telling Sanji. But could she could talk to Zoro about it.

"What is it Raven?"

She walked over and sat back down on the couch beside him. "When I woke up, I was in my bed." She said quietly. "And I didn't have any clothes on." She felt her eyes watering, but she tried her hardest not to cry. "Then before, Griffin said _how about you go to sleep now, so we can practice our honeymoon night._"

Zoro seemed to understand. He looked desperately at Raven. "Oh Raven. Did he…"

Raven started to cry. She let out everything and let Zoro hold her. So long she kept her feelings inside. So long she acted like the tough girl who could fight her boyfriend or challenge a clown. But really, she was just like any other girl.

"H-He raped me." She let out.

Zoro held her tighter. She didn't care if he was just a friend or not. She liked it how he didn't say sorry, he just held her. It felt so good for someone else to feel her pain. It felt good to cry, knowing that someone cared. They stayed like this for a while. Till Raven said she would be all right and went to go change.

* * *

><p>Zoro had no idea someone could cry so much. The shirt he had been wearing was soaked because of Raven's tears. It was like she wasn't just crying because of what happened. It was like she was crying out every bad thing that happened in her life. It made Zoro feel even closer to her. She didn't tell Sanji or Ace, she told him. Zoro knew there was no romantic chemistry between the two of them; it was just friend-to-friend. Zoro could understand that.<p>

He went into his room and changed his shirt, when he came out, Ace stood waiting in the hallway.

"Hey." Ace waved. He wore no shirt, just baggy, long orange shorts and black boots. His usual sad face, happy face hat was on his head.

"Hey. Raven's just changing." Zoro sat back on the couch.

"So is it really true? Did that guy try to?"-

"Yeah." Zoro cut in.

Ace sighed heavily. "Poor Raven."

"Yeah."

"You say she's changing?" Ace asked.

"Uh-huh. She's in the bathroom."

Ace chuckled evilly and walked down the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Zoro turned around.

Ace opened the bathroom door quickly. "Hey you ready?"

"GET OUT!" Raven screamed. A toothbrush, toilet paper and a shampoo bottle got thrown at Ace. He laughed. "That didn't work out as well as I thought."

"Jeez, your lucky I was dressed." Raven stepped out. She wore a short plaid skirt and a pink button up shirt. Her long brown hair was done and stopped halfway at her back.

Both boys stopped and stared.

Ace remembered how to talk and held out his hand. "Ready?" He asked.

Raven smiled. "Yeah." She grabbed his hand and together they walked out the door. Zoro smiled happily. "There's the Raven I know."

* * *

><p>Sanji huffed and puffed from exhaustion. He sat on a bench in the middle of the park. He looked over at the defeated wolf man next to him. His idea about using the clown's magic trick with fire, to set his own legs on fire and defeat the wolf man had worked. After resting a few more minutes he got up and continued to walk to work. This had made him late, again. He had hell to pay when he got back to the Baratie. Sanji hoped Raven was ok…<p>

Raven and Ace arrived at Water 7 theme park. It was the most amazing place Raven had ever seen. The roller coaster and water slides were so high that Raven couldn't see the top. The food smelt so good. The weather was wonderful and a cool breeze moved her hair around.

"So what should we do first?" Ace put his arm around her and smiled. Raven couldn't help but smile back. She looked around with excitement. Then pointed to the biggest roller coaster she could see.

"Let's try that one." She smirked.

"Alright." Ace smirked back and the two walked over.

After that they tried every other roller coaster around. The two went to see a dare devil act next, then soon they past the tunnel of love.

"Wanna try it?" Ace raised an eyebrow.

Raven nodded. They walked over and waited in line. The tunnel of love was like every cheesy tunnel of love out there. The entrance was a huge heart that led into a dark tunnel. At the front was a wide pool and boats led couples into the darkness.

"Next." A man said. He was funny looking and had a piece of hair sticking out from his head.

Ace gave the man the tickets and helped Raven in. Once they were both in the man pressed a button on the machine next to him and the boat shuttered to life.

"Right. Keep your hands in the boat at all times." The man stated. He pushed the piece of hair that was sticking out back in his head and it reappeared on the other side. "Have fun." He pressed another button and the boat began to move. It moved forward toward the tunnel.

Raven felt awkward in the boat. Lights and hearts shinned at them and cupids moved around. She tried to start a conversation. "So what were we gonna do after this? Get something to eat."

"I was thinking so." Ace nodded. He leaned back in the boat and had his arms behind his back. "There's a burrito here that I want to try. They say it's the best in town."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Jeez, you and Luffy with food."

"What? I like to eat."

"How do you eat so much without gaining weight? You have a perfect body."

"You think I do?" Ace smiled.

Raven blushed. "I-well."

Ace chuckled softly. Then, the boat shuttered again and began to slow down till it stopped completely. The lights went out and it was pitch dark in the tunnel.

"Great, technical difficulties." Raven took out her phone form her pocket and shined the screen around for light.

"Its probably just part of the ride." Ace shrugged.

"You think so." Raven looked around. They waited awkwardly, but still nothing happened. "You still think so?"

"I know what we can do to past the time." Ace moved closer to her on the boat.

Raven put her phone down. "Yeah?" She turned it off and saw nothing but darkness. She felt Ace's hands around her chin and he pulled her in for a kiss.

Raven had dated a fair amount of guys. But Ace was definitely on the top of the list for best kisser. It felt so exhilarating Raven wanted more. She continued kissing him back as they touched tongues. Ace pulled her closer and had his hand on the back of her neck. Raven put her hand on his chest and continued kissing him. She wished the boat would never move and they could stay like this forever, kissing in the dark. But soon the lights flashed back on and the boat began to move again.

That didn't stop them though. Ace continued to kiss her as he lowered his hand and she felt it squeeze her breast. Raven opened her eyes. She thought that was a little _too _much. She kissed him once more, and then pushed him away. The two exhaled in satisfaction.

"Sorry, was that too much?" Ace asked.

"Has anyone every told you you're a great kisser?" Raven ignored the question for the time being.

"I have been told this, yes." Ace smiled. He went back to leaning against the seat.

Raven laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

"Your not so bad yourself." Ace added.

Raven laughed. "You could have gone without grabbing my boob though." She looked up at him and gave him a sarcastically dirty look.

Ace shrugged. "Sorry. It just felt natural, you know?"

"Do you grab the girls boob on every first date you have with them?"

"No, but you're a special case."

Raven didn't know what that meant, but she hoped it was a compliment. She looked up at him again. "You asked me out because you wanted to right?"

Ace looked at her funny. "Of course I did, why else would I ask you."

Raven looked away. "Well it's just that, you asked me kind of quickly."

"I couldn't help it. Its not my fault your hot." Ace put his arm around her.

Raven pulled back slightly. "Well, Zoro did that too and I found out it was just to get Sanji annoyed."

"What are you saying? You think I asked you out just to get Sanji pissed of or something."

Raven didn't answer. She was horrible, asking about Sanji while she was a date with someone else. Just like her date with Zoro. "S-Sorry. Never mind." She apologized.

Ace sighed and kissed her again. "I asked you out because I wanted to, no other reason."

Raven smiled. At that moment, the end of the tunnel came and the two got out. And for the rest of the date, Raven didn't think about Sanji again.

* * *

><p>Raven and Ace walked into her apartment. Raven hoped Zoro had kept his promise, and that the place would be clean. But she was hopelessly wrong.<p>

If anything, the place was worse. Her couch was to shreds and there were holes in the wall. One particular whole in the wall looked like the shape of a man with a long nose. Zoro lay sleeping in the middle of all the mess.

"What in the hell?" Ace asked. He walked up to Zoro and kicked him slightly. "Hey dude, hey wake up."

Zoro yawned and opened his eyes. "Hm?"

"Wanna tell me what's going on?" Ace asked.

Zoro stood up and yawned again. Then looked around at the mess. "Oh this?" He face Raven. "Yeah sorry about that. Some mafia guy came in and was asking for you. I kicked his ass though." He pointed over to the man shaped whole in the wall that led outside.

Raven sighed in relief. "At least your ok."

"Yeah well." He looked around. "Your apartments in horrible shape. Sorry about that."

Raven walked up to him and hugged him. "You shouldn't be apologizing, you're the one who fought for my sake."

Zoro smiled. "I guess."

Raven backed away quickly. "I gotta go to the washroom." She started walking over but Zoro stopped her. "Yeahhh, you probably don't want to use it, the toilets kind of slashed to pieces."

Raven looked in, the bathroom was a complete disaster. And the toilet was in pieces all over.

"How?" Raven asked.

Zoro shrugged. "Yeah sorry about that too. It got in the way."

Raven sighed. "I'll just use your bathroom." She walked out of the room and down the hallway.

"Heard from Sanji at all today?" Ace asked.

Zoro nodded. "Yeah I got a text from him a little while ago. Said he ran into one of the mafia people but dealt with them."

"Well that's good."

"Yeah." Zoro sat on a piece of couch. "So how did your date go with her?"

Ace leaned on half of a counter. "it was good."

"Did you go to the tunnel of love like I asked?"

"Yep." Ace smirked.

Zoro nodded. "Yeah, I took Tashigi there once." He smiled happily.

Ace raised an eyebrow. "You and her going at it again?"

Zoro shook his head. "Not yet, but I was thinking of asking her out soon." He stood up. "And there will be no going at it again, I intend to keep her."

Ace whistled, "Wow, good for you."

"What about you, do you think you and Raven…?" Zoro asked.

Ace played with his necklace, but he didn't say anything. "I"-

Suddenly he was interrupted by a loud scream.

"Raven?" Ace yelled.

"Shit." Zoro ran down the hall, Ace followed.

When they got into the apartment, Zoro thought it was too late. The patio door was open and Zoro spotted a black helicopter outside. Getting into it was Raven. She being carried by whom Zoro guessed was Griffin. Griffin wore a black suit and pushed Raven into the copter. She spotted them and yelled. "Zoro! Ace!"

"Shut the hell up." Griffin grabbed her by the hair and pulled her in. Raven didn't like that. She started hitting and kicking Griffin, but he paid it no mind.

"Raven!" Ace ran toward them, but was stopped by another man in black.

"You want to die?" The man had black hair and a black hat. Also, on his shoulder was a small white bird. It had been the one who had talked.

"Is that some kind of joke?" Ace asked.

"Death is no joke." Ace heard a small voice say, the man charged and kicked Ace in the stomach; he flew back and hit the wall in the hallway.

"ACE!" Raven screamed from the helicopter.

"Damn." Ace grunted from the hallway, he wiped blood form his lip.

"I am ordered by the son of the chief to destroy all those close to Raven Cloudd." The bird said.

"Screw that shit." Zoro took out two of his swords and charged at the helicopter. He was already tired from his fight with that other mafia dude. Kaku, he called himself. But Zoro had to save Raven. He jumped off the patio and grabbed onto the helicopter.

"Give Raven back!" Zoro demanded.

"I don't think so." Griffin pushed Raven into the copter and called out to the man in black.

The man pounced on Zoro with the strength of a leopard, then jabbed his index finger straight into Zoro's gut as fast as a bullet.

"What the?"- Zoro coughed up blood. The man with the bird smiled. This time, he talked.

"Don't mess with the mafia, boy." He gave Zoro a few more of his finger guns, then sent him flying down the hallway beside Ace.

Ace stood up slowly and glared at the man with the bird.

"Let's go!" Griffin shouted from afar. The helicopter took off and disappeared from view.

* * *

><p>Zoro's head felt horrible. He felt light-headed and couldn't see straight. He staggered up and looked around. His apartment was a mess; it looked almost as bad as Raven's. Ace stood huffing and puffing in the middle of the room. The man with the bird lay unconscious on the ground, covered in blood.<p>

"You…" Zoro walked over. "How long was I out?"

Ace exhaled. "Just a few minutes." He looked out side the patio. "I'm going after them, call Sanji and let him know what happened."

"He won't be happy." Zoro shook his head.

"Just tell him." And with that, Ace ran out to the balcony and jumped off.

Zoro shivered at the thought of how strong Ace was. He pulled out his phone and called Sanji.

"What is it, Marimo?" Sanji asked from the other end.

"You have to leave work." Zoro demanded.

"Why? Do you miss me?" Sanji taunted.

"Hell no. Look, Raven's in trouble."

"What!" Sanji's voice turned serious. "What happened?"

"There's no time to explain, Ace is after them but he might no make it in time. You gotta leave work!" Zoro yelled.

"I have to go." Sanji stated to Zeff.

"I don't think, ya eggplant!" Zeff yelled. "You missed enough work as it is."

"But"-

"Shut up ya damn brat and take the garbage out. If even think about leaving you'll never step foot in this place again, because I'm gonna chop your legs off!" Zeff hit him with his huge chef hat and kicked Sanji out of the kitchen.

Sanji didn't know what to do. Raven was in trouble, but if he left, he'd get fired. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"What's that god for saken noise?" Sanji heard Patty complaining in the dinning room.

"Sounds like a helicopter." Another chef wondered.

Sanji grabbed the trash and went out the back door. When he looked up he gasped. A black helicopter was hovering close to the ground near the restaurant. He spotted Raven inside; she was struggling to get free from Griffin. Dangling from the bottom of the helicopter was Ace. A woman appeared out of the copter and kicked Ace off. Ace fell out of sight.

"Hey!" Sanji yelled. Griffin looked down and spotted him.

"Hurry!" Griffin ordered, the helicopter started to gain altitude.

"Raven!" Sanji yelled. "I _will_ save you!" He screamed.


	13. Chapter 12: A plate of waffles

"Damnit!" Sanji ran into the Baratie as fast as he could. He ran up the spiral staircase as Patty went by.

"What the hell?" He looked behind him. "Where do you think your going Sanji?"

Sanji ignored him. He went up to the highest floor and ran out to the balcony. He spotted Raven still in the helicopter. When Raven spotted him, she tried to call out. But the woman who had knocked Ace down had grabbed her and put a piece of cloth to her mouth. Raven's eyes fluttered and were soon closed.

"Raven!" He screamed. He didn't care about Griffin or any of them at the moment. He just wanted Raven to be safe. He jumped with all his might and was just able to entered the helicopter.

"Waiter!" Griffin slashed his swords as Sanji entered, but Sanji dodged just in time.

"Your dead waiter." Griffin swung his sword again, but Sanji was done playing around. He dodged the attack and kicked Griffin as hard as he could. Griffin flew back and hit the driver.

"See ya." Sanji grabbed Raven, but before flying off he kicked the control panel of the helicopter. The copter began going out of control and Sanji had to focus to make sure he didn't fall out. Hopefully that would stop Griffin from ever bothering Raven again.

He was about to jump out, when someone tugged on Raven behind him. Sanji turned around.

"When will you give up?" Sanji barked at Griffin. Griffin spit blood from his mouth and tightened his grip on Raven.

"If die here… she's coming to hell with me!" Griffin shoved Sanji and Sanji fell out of the helicopter.

"NO!" He screamed. Griffin laughed like a mad man as the helicopter began going out of control and heading for a near by tree.

Sanji hit the dirt, but brushed the pain off and got up quickly. He tried to run to the copter but it was no use. He was too late though. It was going to crash.

Suddenly, a figure zipped out of the tree. It was Ace. Ace jumped in the helicopter and fought Griffin off. Just as the helicopter was about to explode, Ace jumped out with Raven in his arms.

Sanji was so glad she was ok. But this had completely ruined his plans. He wanted to be the one that saved Raven. Maybe he would even get a kiss from her. But no, he wasn't the hero, Ace was.

* * *

><p>Raven smelt fire. Was someone having a bon fire? She hoped so because her body felt cold. But she felt something warm around her. Maybe she was already near the bon fire? Finally she got the strength, and opened his eyes.<p>

Ace's face was over hers. He held her in his arms and they were flying threw the air for a few seconds till they hit the ground.

"Where are we?" she asked. Her memory seemed fuzzy. She remembered going on date with Ace, then after that…it was hard to remember. "What happened?" She looked around; they seemed to be in a forest. Trees surrounded them like the trees wanted them to have some privacy.

At that moment the memories started coming back to her. She remembered a helicopter and…someone calling her name.

"That was close." Ace sigh in relief, "You almost died." He looked down at her and smiled.

"Y-You saved me?" She gawked at Ace. "But I remember that guy, he hurt you. And oh my god Ace! You're bleeding everywhere!" She looked down at him. He was covered in scratches and bruises.

"This? It's nothing. Your ok, that's all that matters."

Raven wanted to cry. Never in her life had anyone cared about her. Her father was a horrible man that only cared about Raven's social stature. She never knew her mother long enough to know how she felt about her. Her half brother tried to care for her, but it was never enough. Then, when she thought she'd had found someone that she loved and that they loved her back, he had tried to strangle her and rape her. Her life had been a living hell for the longest time. But when she met these people, they had taken her in. They didn't ask of her past, they just accepted her and welcomed her in their circle. She may have even met someone who actually loved her. Raven was never happier.

She grabbed Ace around the neck and kissed him. "Thank you." She whispered. But she wasn't just thanking him, Zoro, everyone, even Sanji. She thanked them all.

* * *

><p>Sanji had gone to go look for Raven, but instead, he had found a sight that broke his heart.<p>

Ace embraced Raven as they kissed in the woods. It was if time had frozen, and Sanji was stuck to watch this scene for all eternity. He wanted to look away, but couldn't.

"You don't know how much I love you right now." He heard Raven say.

Ace laughed. "Now, now. I think I could have saved you without you saying that."

"It just felt natural? You know?" She smiled.

"Do you tell every guy you love them on their first date?"

"No, but you're a special case." She kissed him again.

They laughed together as Ace walked back to Louge Town Towers, Raven still in his arms. Sanji just stood there in the bushes, wondering why he even bothered. It was obvious to him now. He was going to die alone. He walked back to the Baratie and continued work as he usually did, tired, sad, and alone.

* * *

><p>Ace went back to Raven's apartment, still holding her in his arms. When he opened he was surprised to see that her apartment was completely clean. Everything was back to the way it was. Besides that half her furniture was gone.<p>

"How?" Raven stared in amazement.

"Zoro." Ace guessed. He brought Raven to her room. It was neat and tidy just like the rest of the apartment. He laid her in her bed and kissed her forehead.

"But Ace, your injured, I should get my first-aid kit and"-

"I'll be fine, just rest." He kissed her again. Then left the apartment and went over to Zoro's.

When he got in, Zoro was sweeping the floors. He had changed and was wearing an apron and black sweatpants. Which seemed like a weird fashion to Ace.

"Saw what happen from the window." Zoro said as he walked in. "Nice job."

"Thanks." Ace sat down on the couch that was now back to normal. "I see you cleaned up Raven's apartment too."

"Yeah, I thought it was the least I could do, seeing as I couldn't save her. But most of her furniture was destroyed. So I'll have to buy her new ones." His voice went quiet.

"Hey man, you did great." Ace walked up to him and patted him on the back.

Zoro winced. "Careful."

"Sorry." Ace stepped back. "So what now?"

"There's a new episode of Family Guy I think." Zoro sat on the couch and grabbed the remote.

"Sure." Ace sat down next to him and the two watched T.V as if nothing had happened that day.

* * *

><p>"I'm home." Sanji moaned. He took of his shoes and looked over at the living room. Zoro and Ace sat on the couch together watching T.V<p>

Sanji grumbled. "Great, _he's _here." He walked over and collapsed on the love seat to the right of the couch.

"Your kind of late." Zoro pointed out. "It's three in the morning."

Sanji pretended not to hear him. Of course he knew what time it was. He had been working over time for the last three hours. He didn't need Zoro to remind him.

"Where's Raven-chan?" Sanji lifted his head up slightly.

"At her place sleeping." Ace answered. He looked at Sanji for a moment. "You look awful."

"Thanks Captain obvious." Sanji lowered his head again.

Ace shrugged and put his hands behind his neck. "Well I don't know about you, but I had a great day today."

Sanji almost threw a pillow at him.

"Went on an amazing date with Raven. Defeated some badies and saved her life. Things couldn't get better."

Sanji gritted his teeth. "I helped save her too you know." Sanji pointed out. "Technically,_ I'm _the one who saved her."

"Actually, I did see you go into the helicopter." Zoro remembered. "But after it started to go out of control."

"Exactly. You almost killed Raven, not save her." Ace glared at Sanji. Sanji glared back.

"I know what I did, I don't care if you two retards don't believe me." He didn't have anything else to say to them. "I'm going to bed." He got up from the couch and walked away, slamming his bedroom door behind him.

"What's his problem?" Ace asked.

Zoro didn't answer right away. "I think it's his time of the month."

* * *

><p>For the next few days that follow, Sanji didn't see much of his friends. Because Zeff had been pushing him so far, the next few days had been, sleep, work, sleep, and work. He grabbed a bite to eat when he could, but mostly he felt hungry most of the time. That didn't bother him though; he'd been in worst situations before.<p>

Finally his day off work came and he tried to sleep in. But he woke up early because of a bad dream. He dreamed that he was being chased by a group of scary transvestites. He'd had this nightmare before, and hated it every time. Why he dreamed this? Sanji didn't know.

None the less, he got out of bed and went to make himself a cup of coffee. He walked into the kitchen and got the coffee ready. While he did so, he heard a small giggle.

"Hey Sanji."

Sanji almost dropped the coffee pot. He turned around. Raven was behind him sitting on one of the bar stools behind the counter.

"R-Raven-chan?!" Sanji gasped. "What are you doing here, isn't ten in the morning early for you?"

Raven raised her eyebrows. "I can get up when I want to. And I came over because I haven't seen you in a while. I wanted to see how you were doing."

"R-Really?" Sanji blushed. She came just to see him?

"Also um." Raven tried not to laugh and pointed at Sanji. "You might want to put some pants on or something."

Sanji looked down. He wore nothing but his blue and heart covered boxers. He screamed like a girl and ran to his room. "S-Sorry!" He called out.

Raven laughed. "No problem."

Sanji got dressed quickly, he put on his black pants, and dark blue t-shirt that read "Gentleman Cook" and then went into the bathroom to brush his hair and teeth.

"Better?" He asked Raven.

Raven smiled. "Much better."

Sanji felt his heart skip when she smiled at him. He couldn't help it. The past few days, he had been trying to be mad at Raven for leaving him for Ace. Well, she hadn't really left him, but that's how it felt to Sanji. But looking at her now, with her hair back in a ponytail. And her cute tank top and sweatpants, Sanji couldn't be mad at her.

"Did you want something to eat?" He asked her.

"No thanks." She said, but Sanji heard her stomach rumble.

"A-Actually, some waffles would be nice." Raven looked down.

"Wonderful." Sanji said determinately. He was going to make the best waffles in the world.

"So how have you been?" She asked him.

Sanji grabbed the frying pan from the cupboard. "Fine."

"Well, I was just wondering about you, it's been so long since you said hi, or texted me." She reminded him.

Sanji didn't answer for a moment. "I've been busy, with work and stuff." He said quietly.

"Oh." Raven must have got that as a "_don't ask him anymore questions." _

"What about you?" He tried to change the subject.

"Well, Zoro went with me to buy new furniture a few days ago." She touched her cheek as she remembered, which Sanji thought was incredible adorable. "Then Nami invited me over to her house on Wednesday. A-After that I went on another date with Ace." She said quickly. Sanji tried not to act disappointed.

"Fun."

"Y-Yeah." Raven looked at him desperately. "Look Sanji, me and him… We"-

"It's fine… really." Sanji flipped the waffles.

Raven sighed, but she didn't say anything else for a while. "Sanji…"

"Your waffles are done." Sanji put the plate in front of her. Raven looked up at him hurt, but then looked down at her plate and smiled. "This looks delicious. Thank you."

"No problem." Sanji walked outside, "Be right back, I'm just going to have a smoke."

"Alright."

Sanji wished those mafia guys hadn't destroyed their chairs out on the balcony. Now all Sanji could do was stand. He lit a smoke and leaned on the screen doors.

He didn't need Raven telling him she was dating Ace. Sanji was smart enough to figure that out. He also knew one of the reasons why he hadn't seen her these past few days, was probably because she had been out and about with Ace. It made Sanji wonder whether she had really been wondering how she was doing, or if that was a lie. When he finished his smoke he came back inside. Sometimes he wished that they'd let people smoke in the apartment. Going without a smoke for even five minutes made Sanji on edge.

When he got back inside his apartment, Ace and Luffy were there.

"What? What are you guys doing here?" Sanji asked.

"I'm here to take Raven out for a bit." Ace smiled. "But I can't leave Luffy home alone so I was wondering if he could hang with you for a bit."

"Sure why not…it's my day off, I'd love to spend it babysitting Luffy." Sanji sneered sarcastically.

"Well if you don't want to I guess I could"-

"No, no. I'll take him." Sanji sighed.

"Thanks Sanji." Ace waved good-bye and took Raven in his arms.

"See ya around Sanji." She smiled.

Sanji waved good-bye and looked over at the waffles he had worked so hard to make, and there had only been one bite taken out of them.

"Want some waffles, Luffy?" He asked miserably.

"Really? Hooray!" Luffy dug in and devoured them.

Sanji sat on the couch and sighed heavily. Luffy walked up behind him and jumped on the couch beside him. "You ok Sanji? You seem tired? Maybe you should have some meat."

Sanji tried to laugh, but he couldn't. "Thanks Luffy, But I'm not hungry."

"Wow really? I never get that feeling."

Sanji sighed again. "Luffy, do you ever get depressed?"

"I don't know what that means." Luffy said blankly.

Sanji huffed, "Of course you don't. It mean's when your really sad and you just want to do nothing."

"I feel that way when I don't have meat." Luffy stated. "You should have some meat. Maybe it will make you, not-depressed?"

Sanji tried for a smile. "Maybe." He stayed on the couch for a long time, till Zoro got home a few hours later.

"Hey, Oh, Hey Luffy."

Luffy waved. "Hello Zoro. Look, I'm watching Jake and the Neverland pirates. It's very interesting."

Zoro chuckled. "You _are _obsessed with pirates for some reason. Too bad Ace wouldn't let me show you Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a lot better then this baby stuff."

"I still like it." Luffy smiled brightly at the screen.

Zoro looked down at Sanji. "You seem quiet."

Sanji stared at the T.V "I really hate this show."

Zoro shook his head. "What's your problem?"

"I'm gonna take a nap." Sanji stood up and walked over to his room.

"What happened?" Zoro asked Luffy once Sanji was out of the room.

"He said he was de-press-ed." Luffy said it slowly to make sure he said it right.

"Depressed, huh." Zoro looked over at Sanji's room, worried.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Sanji heard a knock on his bedroom door. "Go away." He grumbled.<p>

"It's me." Zoro's voice called back.

"Go away." Sanji grumbled again.

"You gonna come out?"

"Soon."

Zoro sighed and stepped inside Sanji's bedroom.

"Wh-what do you think your doing!" Sanji had a spaz. "Get out!"

"Shut up and listen." Zoro sat on the bed and looked at Sanji straight in his visible eye.

"This isn't like you. Girls reject you all the time, but you always get back up on your feet. I've never seen you this depressed since…since Nami rejected your valentines card in grade 3."

"Jee, thanks for reminding me." Sanji grumbled and put his head under his pillow. "Look, I'm fine ok. I don't care about Raven anymore. I'm happy she found someone she l-likes." Sanji stopped himself quickly from saying "Love".

Zoro sighed. "I'll help you." He whispered.

"W-With what?"

"I'll help you get Raven."

"Oh thank god, I thought you were gonna say something else. Wait, WHAT?" Sanji sat up straight from his bed.

"I'll help you win Raven over, I may not look the brightest, but I know a thing or too that can win her heart over."

"She's dating Ace."

"So, That's never stopped you before."

Sanji looked up at the ceiling. "Why are you helping me anyway? I thought you liked Ace more then me?"

"I do. But if you lie around here and be all sad, who's going to make dinner? Now listen closely because I'm not repeating myself."


	14. Chapter 13: The spider

**Hey! Just a little leads up, thing chapter contains LEMONS! Yes.. parts that are not suitable for younger ages. **

**This also means im probably gonna change the rating as well..**

* * *

><p>Zoro sighed. "Look, I already know she feels something towards you."<p>

"Sh-She does?" Sanji gawked at Zoro.

"Yeah, even an idiot could figure that out. Well…maybe not." Zoro pointed to Raven. She sat on the couch by herself. Ace and Luffy had just left.

"B-but what do I say?" Sanji asked. "What if she backs away, because well, like I've already said, she _is _dating someone."

"That doesn't matter, as long as you can make her realize her feelings for you. It should work." Zoro pushed Sanji forward, and Sanji sat on the couch next to Raven.

"Whatcha watchin Raven-chan?" Sanji tried to act normal.

"Hell's kitchen." Raven smiled.

"Really?" Sanji raised an eyebrow and looked at the T.V "I love this show."

They watched together in silence for several minutes. Then Sanji asked. "Who do you thinks gonna win?"

Raven touched her cheek with her finger like she always did when she was thinking. "We'll I've only been watching this for a few episodes, but I'd have to say that girl." She pointed to a girl on the screen.

"Her? Why her?" Sanji asked.

"I don't know she looks kind of cool." Raven shrugged.

"Well I've been watching this show since it started, and I'd have to say…that guy."

"Ew no, he's ugly." Raven chuckled.

"What? That doesn't matter. He's a really good chef, he'll win for sure."

"Your stupid, looks get you the win in shows like these." Raven nodded.

"So if you entered one of these, you'd win for sure."

Raven looked away quickly. "I-I don't know about that. I'm not a good cook, at _all_. But you'd win for sure."

"Why?"

"Because you have the skills and the looks." Raven smiled. Sanji didn't care if she was joking or not. He wanted to take her right then and there.

"Well, I'm pretty sexy if I do say so myself." He pretended to flex his muscles.

Raven giggled. "Having a big ego doesn't really help though."

"Hm oh well." Sanji smiled. He took a bold move and put his arm around her as "Friendly-like" as he could. Luckily, Raven didn't seem bothered by it.

Sanji shouldn't have done that. He didn't want to be a "friend" to Raven. Bad enough the two hottest girls he knew beside Raven were already his friends. Sanji would settle for nothing less then at least a "Romantic interest". He had a lot of those on that Sims game he played on his computer. And if his life in the Sims was perfect, how hard could it be to make that in real life?

"So who do you thinks gonna win this episode?" He asked. Being so close to Raven, he could smell her perfume.

"That guy over there."

"And why's that?"

"I don't know…he looks kinda cute."

"_Him?_"

"Yeah, he looks a little like Ace." Raven blushed.

"Excuse me." Sanji got up and walked past Zoro. "I can't do it." He said, and then went back into his room.

"I thought he'd say something like that." Zoro rolled his eyes and walked over to Raven. "Look, I'm going to try and make this simple." He sat down.

"Huh?"

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Sanji's crazy for you."

Raven looked at Zoro for a second, "I know." She sighed.

"Y-You do?"

"Yeah."

"Well could you at least give him a hug now and then to cheer him up or something?"

Raven stared blankly at Zoro. "Your want me to kiss up to Sanji, even though I already have a boyfriend, and its _his _own fault for being moody."

Zoro was confused. "What… you know about that."

"Of course I do. Sanji hasn't acted the same since the mafia incident and I know it's about me and Ace." Raven sighed. "Bu-But. Sanji has to suck it up. Right now, I'm only in l-love with Ace, no one else." She said it as if she'd never said it out loud before.

"That's how you really feel?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"Y-Yes." Raven nodded.

Zoro sighed heavily. "He isn't going to like this…"

Raven bit her lip.

"He also saved your life." Zoro added.

"What do you mean?"

"Back when the mafia was after us, and you were in that helicopter. Sanji was the one who knocked out Griffin and was about to save you when he feel out."

Raven's eyes glazed over. "That time when…"-

"All I'm going to say is that he's crazy for you. So crazy, that he spends all day in his room, just because he knows you like Ace more then him." Zoro checked his phone. "Well I gotta go, I got a date with Tashigi." He stood up and walked over to the front door and put his shoes on. "If you won't do it for him, will you do it for me?" And with that, he left the apartment.

* * *

><p>Raven hoped she had made the right choice.<p>

Truly, she _had _fallen in love with Ace. And she tried so hard the past few days to ignore Sanji, but she had ended up going to his apartment anyway. She didn't _want _to like Sanji, it wasn't fair for Ace. Yet still, she found Zoro's words repeating themselves in her head. And soon, she was walking over to Sanji's room.

She didn't bother to knock. Instead, she opened the door slowly and peaked her head in. The room was dark, and it was hard to see anything. But she spotted the outline of the bed, and Sanji laying in it silently.

She walked over to him and sat on the floor beside the bed. "Sanji." She whispered.

If Sanji heard her, he didn't reply.

"Sanji." Raven said a little louder.

"Huh?" Sanji turned over in his bed and was face-to-face with Raven.

"R-Raven-chan!" Sanji was so surprised that he fell of his bed.

"Sanji, are you ok?" Raven looked down at him. His head had hit the floor and his butt was high in the air. He quickly turned around. "Y-Yeah I'm fine." He looked at Raven for a moment as if he couldn't believe a girl was in his bedroom.

"S-So what's up?" He sat on his bed awkwardly.

"Well…I needed to talk to you."

Sanji sighed as if he knew this was coming. "Ok, just let me turn the light on." Sanji got up and walked over to the backside of his bedroom and turned on a twitch. The lights came on, and Sanji screamed the loudest, girlish, scream of the day.

"What is it?" Raven stared at him in confusion.

Sanji tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out. He just kept pointed to the wall behind Raven. Raven looked behind her and on the wall, was a giant black spider.

Sanji screamed again and ran out of his room.

"Sanji wait!" Raven chased after him. He stood in the kitchen and looked shaken up as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Sanji are you alright?" Raven tried not to smile.

"Y-Y-Yeah." Sanji stuttered. "I j-j-just don't like s-s-s-pid-e"-

"Spiders?"

"Yes."

Spiders weren't Raven's favourite either. But if she didn't kill it, Sanji might not calm down enough for her to talk to him.

"I'll kill it." She pulled off one of her shoes and walked into Sanji's room. Sanji followed behind her.

"Just with a shoe?" He asked.

"Yeah, why not?"

"W-well that shoe seems kind of small compared to that gigantic _thing _in my room."

"It should be fine." Raven opened Sanji's door. But the spider wasn't on the wall. It was on the ceiling.

"O-Oh god." Sanji hid behind Raven.

Raven wasn't tall enough to reach it from the ground. So she got on top of Sanji's bed at looked over at the spider.

"Ok." She said to herself. "One, two… THREE!" She smacked her shoe at the spider, but it had only made it lose its grip. The spider fell and landed on Sanji's bed.

Raven's yelled and jumped off the bed. "Oh shit!"

"Not my bed!" Sanji grabbed his hair with both his hands.

"Where did it go?" Raven started ripping off Sanji's sheets and pillows, but couldn't find the spider anyway.

"Where?"- Raven looked at Sanji and froze. "Sanji. Do not move." Her eyes widened.

"W-What?" Sanji looked down. The spider was half way up his leg.

"Sanji what ever you do, don't"- But it was too late.

Sanji shrieked and kicked his leg franticly. The spider fell off and with all his might, he stomped on it. The spider moved no more.

The two stood in quiet. Sanji was huffing and puffing. "I killed a spider." He said. He raised his arms in the air. "I killed a spider!" He smiled. Raven couldn't help but laugh.

He smiled at her. "See? I told you I'd protect you."

Raven chuckled again. "I know."

* * *

><p>Raven cleaned up the spider remains and threw them out. The two sat on the couch together.<p>

'Thanks for protecting me." She smirked and punched his shoulder.

Sanji smiled. "Yeah well, now that I think about it that was kind of silly to say. It was just a spider." He looked down at the ground. "It's not like I saved you from Griffin or anything. That was Ace."

Raven looked at him. "Smile." She demanded.

"What?"

"Smile, you look so much cutier when you smile."

Sanji blushed. He made a goofy smile and Raven laughed. "That's more scary then cute."

Sanji chuckled. But his goofy smile disappeared and he continued his sad face.

Raven leaned against him. "And by the way, you _did _save me from Griffin."

"What? No I didn't."

"Don't play stupid. Zoro told me what he saw. And now that I think about it. I do remember you. You were on the Baratie roof and you were calling my name." Raven looked him in the eyes. "Thank you."

Sanji smiled.

"See, that's the face I want to see. It's so hard not to look at you, so you better keep smiling."

"Why is it hard not to look at me?" Sanji tilted his head in a question.

Raven smirked. "Because of that eyebrow of yours."

Sanji nodded. "Yeah I've gotten that before, it's screwed up I know."

"I love it."

"W-What did you just say." He gasped.

"I said I love that eyebrow." She beamed.

Sanji tried to stop himself from hyperventilating. No one ever complimented his eyebrow. _Ever. _And for Raven to say she loved it…

"Well I love that piece of hair that always falls in front of your face."

Raven looked up at the hair and it made her eyes go cross-eyed. "This thing. I hate it." She moved it out of her face and two seconds later it fell back. "God."

Sanji smiled. "I think it's adorable."

Raven blushed. "I didn't know a piece of hair could be adorable."

"I didn't know an eyebrow could be either." He shrugged. Raven laughed. Then she turned to face him on the couch and gave him a hug. Sanji hugged her back. It felt so good to get a hug from her. All this time he tried to hate her. He tried to forget about her. But he couldn't. And it was now clear to him that he never would. No matter how far apart they were, Sanji would never stop thinking about her. He wondered if Raven felt the same.

"It's ok to do this right?" She whispered in his ear.

Sanji thought about this. "It's just a hug."

"Right." Raven nodded. Sanji could smell her breath. It smelt like mint. "What about this?" She kissed him on the cheek while still hugging him.

Sanji almost forgot how to breathe. "I-I."

Raven pulled back and looked at his face, she laughed. "You should see your face right now."

Sanji touched his cheek. He probably had a ridiculous look on his face but he didn't care. "Um." He remembered the question she asked him. "Kisses on the cheek are allowed." He nodded. "Strictly friendly."

"Right."

"Maybe another one?"

"I think that was enough." Raven laughed. Sanji was secretly devastated. Raven checked the wall clock. "I should probably go home. My apartment is kind of a mess."

"Already?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

Raven stood up and walked to the door. Sanji wanted to say something more. Tell her he was sorry for being all depressed. Tell her he didn't just love that piece of hair. He loved _her_. But Raven was already out the door when he finally got the courage to say it.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Raven sat on her couch in her apartment. Bored out of her mind. She didn't want to clean her apartment. She had finished all her paintings and delivered them all. Ace was out. So she had absolutely, nothing to do. Raven decided to go see Zoro and Sanji. She went into her bathroom and went pee and brushed her hair. Her hair was down, but she hadn't straightened it so it was curly and went ever which way no matter how many times she brushed it. But she didn't really care how she looked that much.<p>

She left her apartment and walked down the hallway. Passing her neighbours doors as she walked. She was so happy she had straightened things out with Sanji that other day. Ok, maybe the kiss hadn't been _necessary, _but she felt it was needed to make sure Sanji knew. She wanted to make sure he knew that no matter whom she dated; she would always be friends with him. Which sounded a littlie cheesy when she thought about it, but oh well.

When she knocked on the door, no one answered. She tried to open it and sure enough. It was unlocked. When she entered, she saw no one. Which meant that the two must be out somewhere.

"Great." She sighed. "I guess I just wait till they come home. She sat on their couch and texted Zoro, asking where they were. Zoro replied a few minutes later saying that they had just left and were heading to Nami's house because she wasn't feeling well. He also mentioned the only reason they were going was that Sanji wanted to see her and deliver a soup he made for her, and that they'd be back in a bit.

Raven replied, "Ok" and rolled her eyes. She had noticed that Sanji acted weird with all girls. First she thought it was just her, but after going to Nami's house and asking about him she replied, _"Yeah he always acts like that around girl. May him no mind"._

It made Raven feel a wink of jealously when ever she saw him gawking at Nami and Robin, or Vivi, or Nojiko, or any girl. It made Raven wonder who he thought was hotter, or who he liked more. And why he called her, Nami and Robin with an ending at the end, like _chan _or _swan. _Raven had heard it was polite to do so, but she also heard that when you call someone just by their name, it means you are closer to them, or something like that. But Raven tried to keep those thoughts out of her mind.

Then there was a knock on the door and it opened. "Hey Zoro I need to borrow your"- Ace stood in the doorway. "Oh, Hey Raven."

"Hey." She waved from the couch.

"Where's Zoro?" Ace kicked off his boots and walked over to the couch, sitting beside her.

"He's out with Sanji. Their visiting Nami because she's sick."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Of course. I like Sanji, but he trails after girls like a lost puppy. Its sort of annoying."

Raven could agree with that.

"So what are _you _doing here?" He nudged her with his shoulder.

"I was bored so I went to go see them. But there not home so…" Raven shrugged. "Guess I just sit here then."

Ace nodded. He looked around the apartment. Then he put his hand on her leg.

"What do you think your doing?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know." He smiled elfishly. He put his other hand on her cheek and kissed her. Raven put her arm around his neck and kissed him back. After several minutes kissing turned into making out. Ace stopped kissing her lips and moved to her neck. Raven moaned with pleasure as his lips moved down and his hands moved up. She felt the grabbing sensation on her breasts and it made her shutter with excitement.

She laid back on the couch and Ace looked down at her. He put his hands on her stomach, and then gripped her shirt, pulling it up slowly, but then he hesitated.

"Maybe we should go back to your place." Ace said. "What if Zoro and Sanji come back?"

"Don't worry about it." Raven tried to reassure him "That's the thrill of it."

"Fine." Ace continued taking her shirt off. Soon the shirt was on the ground beside the couch followed by her bra.

Raven knew this was a bad idea, what if they _did _get caught. What would Sanji think of her? But she couldn't help it.

Raven closed her eyes. She felt the wetness of Ace's tongue swirling around her nipple. She moaned in pleasure and ushered him to keep going.

He grabbed her jeans and pulled them off. He kissed her slender legs and then stared pulling off her panties. Once she was completely naked she smiled at Ace.

"My turn."

Ace still seemed reluctant, but he took his own shorts off and his flame boxers that Raven thought were so cute. She stared between his legs and smirked. She grasped it first and started moving up and down with her hand. That followed by her taking it and shoving it in her mouth.

As she did the job, Ace groaned in delight.

"You know…" Raven thought out loud. "Doing it in their living room is kind of disgrace."

Ace nodded. "And..?"

"So." Raven got up and walked past Ace. "I think Zoro wouldn't mind if we _borrowed _his room for a little while." She gestured Ace to follow her.

* * *

><p>Raven fell to the bed in exhaustion. She shuttered from climaxing and huffed and puffed heavily. Ace lay down next to her, doing the same.<p>

"That was…" Raven smiled. "I can't even…"

Ace chuckled. "Yeah."

Then Raven heard the sound of a door opening.

"Still don't see why we had to take _your _car." Zoro complained. Raven bit her lip.

"Because it shows I was thinking of her first." Sanji stated.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well it does to me. I also think she loved my soup."

"Whatever, no sense arguing with a crazy person." Zoro's voice sounded closer.

"Shit." Ace muttered.

The bedroom door opened and Zoro walked in. He didn't notice them at first. He closed the door and yawned. Then when he turned his head in the direction of his bed, his face went threw several emotions.

"Hey." Ace tensed his shoulders and smiled like an eight year old who just got caught stealing.

Zoro shook his head as if he thought he was imagining this. Then he walked up to them and whisper yelled. "What the hell are you doing in my room!?" Then he looked down. "And why are you both naked!" Then his face went slack. "Wait, no you didn't!"

"Oops?" Ace and Raven said together.


	15. Chapter 14: Ace's awkward moment

"We didn't know you'd be back so soon." Raven pulled the blanket over her body. "See Ace! What did I say!" She complained.

"Hey, you're the one"-

"Look, can you both just get dressed and get out!" Zoro yelled.

"What are you yelling about in there?" Sanji's voice called from the kitchen.

"N-Nothing." Zoro opened his door and replied back. He turned back to Raven and Ace. "Hurry up, I'll distract him."

Zoro walked out and into the kitchen. "So…Eyebrows… You never did tell me what happen after I went out that day."

Back in Zoro's room, Raven yanked her pants up and pulled her shirt down.

"Hurry up." Ace whisper screamed.

"I am!"

"Oh, well I killed a spider." Sanji said triumphantly.

"Really wow." Zoro pretended to sound interested, he turned behind him and gestured for Ace and Raven to hurry it up.

"Yeah, but that's not the best part, she said my eyebrows were adorable." Sanji twirled on the spot.

"Uh-huh, wow." Zoro nodded.

"Then she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek." Sanji said in delight. He went into a cupboard and pulled a whisk out.

"What's he talking about?" Ace whispered. He stood in the hallway with Raven.

"That doesn't matter, just run when Zoro gives us the signal." Raven really wished Zoro had distracted Sanji with a different conversation.

"You know, I think you were right before. I think she really does like me deep down." Sanji turned his back. Zoro gestured for them to go.

Raven didn't want to leave yet. "What did you tell him Zoro?" Raven glared at him.

"Just go he's."- Zoro started. But it was too late.

Sanji had turned back around and stared confused at Ace and Raven.

"When did you guys get here?" He asked. "Why?"- Apparently he wasn't as dumb as people thought he was. He's visible eye slowly became bigger with shock.

"So close." Ace sighed.

"Y-You guys." Sanji pointed his whisk at them. "You guys had _sex _here!" His voice sounded hurt and betrayed.

"Look Sanji…" Maybe Raven could reason with him. But Sanji wasn't done.

"I-I thought." His voice broke. He looked up at Raven, and Raven alone. "Why?"

"Sanji, It's my fault. I"- Ace began but Sanji cut him off.

"Shut up." He glared at Ace. Ace stepped back in surprise. Sanji looked back at Raven. "Just go." He looked away.

Raven felt so bad. She wanted to apologies. She didn't even know what for. But she knew that somehow, in some way she had "cheated" on Sanji. Even though they weren't dating. Raven guessed that's how Sanji took it.

"I'm sorry." She tried to meet eyes with Sanji, but he wouldn't look at her.

"No your not." He sighed.

"Come on." Ace grabbed Raven's hand and pulled her outside in the hallway. He closed the door behind him.

They walked in silence to Raven's apartment. He opened the door and let Raven in.

"I'm gonna go talk to them." He said.

"I want to come too! I want to say"- Raven protested.

"No. Let _me_ talk to them." He nodded and closed Raven's door.

* * *

><p>"You ok?" Zoro asked.<p>

"No, I feel like I'm going to throw up." Sanji leaned on the counter.

Zoro nodded. "I can see why you'd be mad. They just barged in here and had sex in our apartment. But aren't you taking it a little far?"

Sanji couldn't tell him why. He just felt betrayed. It made him sad. It made him-

There was a knock on the door, and Ace walked in.

"Look guys." He walked up and bowed. "I'm really sorry I had sex with Raven in your apartment without asking." He said blankly.

"H-How did it even happen?" Sanji asked.

Ace tried to explain how he had come to their apartment to ask Zoro something, and Raven had been there. "I just hadn't seen her in a while, and god I don't know. I just felt in the _mood _you know?"

Zoro nodded like he understood. But Sanji stared at both of them in bewilderment. Maybe he didn't understand because he didn't have a girlfriend. But he was pretty sure if he were in the _mood, _he wouldn't do it in someone else's apartment, _while their not home!_

"Well it was immature. And"-

"I know it must of hurt you more." Ace looked apologetically at Sanji. "Because you have the hots for Raven too right?"

Sanji felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "I-I we-well…"

"I just hope you can forgive me, and Raven." Ace bowed again.

"Well, even though you did do it in _my _bed. I forgive you." Zoro nodded. "But your gonna clean my sheets."

"Right." Ace nodded, then he looked over at Sanji.

Sanji nodded. "Yeah." He said in a quiet voice.

Ace smiled. "Thank you. Did you want to see Raven?"

Sanji shook his head. "No."

* * *

><p>That night, Raven lay in her bed, tossing and turning. She just couldn't get to sleep. The image of Sanji's face, racked with sadness kept flashing in her mind. She wished she could go back in time and tell her stupid self not to have sex with Ace in their apartment. It was a stupid idea. She had finally fixed the awkwardness between her and Sanji and suddenly she had broken it again. She decided it would be a good try to text him. She sent him a message.<p>

* * *

><p>Raven: Sanji im realy sorry.<p>

* * *

><p>She got no reply for some time.<p>

* * *

><p>Sanji: I know but it still hurt my feelings I thought that…<p>

* * *

><p>Raven wished she didn't know what he was going to text her, but she did.<p>

* * *

><p>Sanji: I thought that you and me… that maybe you loved me.<p>

* * *

><p>Raven sighed. She didn't know how to reply. Truly, she didn't know what she felt about Sanji. She really didn't. She typed slowly, and then sent her next message.<p>

* * *

><p>Raven: I do not know how I feel about you… I really don't. but I do know that you should think for urself, and not let ideas from zoro fill ur head.<p>

1 new message

Sanji: alright, I'll try to read the signs better next time. I can see you just want us to be friends. I wont bother you again.

* * *

><p>After that, Sanji didn't text her the rest of the night. He didn't text her the next day, or the next day, or the next. Slowly she began to lose contact with him. She still visited from time to time, but it was mostly to see Zoro, not Sanji. And if Sanji happened to be there, he would just wave and that was all. She continued to date Ace, but they soon became distant. Raven would get upset with him about the smallest things, and he would try to fix them. After three months, Raven went to him and person and told him she couldn't deal with the stress anymore. What with her paintings and him, she said she needed a break and that it was over. The last few days, she didn't leave her apartment. People around town had taken interest in her paintings and she was backed up with orders. She didn't sleep and usual forgot to eat. She just painted and painted. She was also sad about having to break up with Ace and spent her free time crying or moping around.<p>

One day, she couldn't take it anymore and opened her fridge to get something to eat. It was empty.

"Guess I forgot to go grocery shopping." She sighed. Her stomach grumbled loudly. "M-Maybe Sanji and Zoro have some food." She opened her door and walked out. She hadn't seen then in over a week. She wondered how they were doing.

She felt her legs shaking as she walked. It made her wonder how long it had been since she'd eaten.

After what seemed like forever, she made it to their door and knocked. Sanji answered. It had been so long since Raven had seen Sanji; she had almost forgotten what he looked like. His blonde hair was brushed to the one side of his face so that only his right eye was visible. He had his curly eyebrow that Raven loved, and those few hairs on his chin. He wore a green button shirt with a pink tie. He wore his usual black pants that made Raven wonder if he was one of those people who had a million pairs of the same pants.

"R-Raven-chan." Sanji looked at her. "Are you ok?"

"What's that suppose to mean?" She tried to stand straight, but her legs kept shaking making her lean to one side.

"You don't look so good." He looked at her up and down. "What do you want?"

"Hungry." She mumbled. As if on cue, her stomach grumbled loudly.

Sanji made a sad face. "Raven… how long has it been since you've eaten?"

"I don't know."

Sanji welcomed her in. "Come on, I'll make you something to eat." Raven walked in, Zoro sat on the couch and looked up.

"Oh hey Raven. Oh, you look horrible."

"Thanks." She grumbled. As she past the mirror that hung on the wall beside the hallway closet, she gasped. She _did _look horrible. Her eyes seemed sunken in like a skeletons. Her whole face looked like it had been sunken in. Her hair was in a bun and was messy and tangled.

"Oh god." She touched her face, and then looked at her hands. Her hands were as skinny as bone and they shook uncontrollable. She faced Sanji, but didn't know what to say. Sanji made a sad face at her and looked Zoro. Raven wondered what they were thinking, but Raven didn't care, she just wanted food.

"I don't feel good." She doubled over and put her hand over her mouth. Sanji's eyes widened. "Don't throw up here! Go to the washroom!"

Raven nodded and ran into the washroom as fast as she could.

* * *

><p>Sanji stood in the hallway. Wondering why he let Zoro ever talk him into the little scheme they had been plotting for months now. He turned to Zoro. "See what happened. I knew she'd be like this after her and Ace broke up."<p>

Zoro shook his head. "I think its more then that. Just make her something to eat."

Sanji nodded and walked over to the kitchen. He pulled out some food and a frying pan and went to work.

So long he had wanted to see Raven. But Zoro had said, "_if you see her now, it will ruin our whole plan. Remember what I said, stay away and she'll want_ _more_". Sanji was on the brink of just forgetting about everything. He hadn't even been the one texting her that night, it had been Zoro. It was all part of Zoro's grand plan to get Raven to like Sanji, had it even worked?

Raven came out of the washroom. She really did look terrible. Sanji felt so bad for her. He wanted to comfort her.

She sat on the bar stool and laid her head down on the counter. Sanji wondered what she was thinking.

"So…" He flipped the burger in the pan. "I heard you and Ace broke up."

Raven made a grunting noise that sounded like "Uh-huh".

"That must have been hard on both of you." Sanji didn't look at her.

"I don't feel like talking about it." Raven growled.

"Right." Sanji was kind of scared of Raven now.

He finished the meal and put the gourmet burger on a plate and gave it to Raven. "Here you go." Raven grabbed it and devoured it, in seconds the burger was gone and the plate was empty. Raven seemed to get some of her glow back. She smiled at Sanji. "Thank you."

Sanji smiled back. "Your welcome."

Raven looked down at her clothes. "I guess I haven't really been taking care of myself."

"I think you still look amazing." Sanji smiled. Raven looked away and blushed.

"I know your just saying that to be nice." She frowned at Sanji. "I look so bad even you can't like me like this."

Sanji looked in her eyes and sat next to her on the barstool. "But I _do_ think you look amazing."

Raven looked away. "I thought we were _friends. _Friends don't compliment each other like that." She grumbled.

"Sure they do." Sanji grabbed her hands. They were pale and unhealthy. Raven seemed to like the warmth of his hands. She smiled.

"You know, I've kind of missed you guys the past few days…or weeks." She looked over at Zoro then back at Sanji. "I've just been so busy with painting, I haven't had time to eat, or sleep, or have a shower." She blushed at the last one.

Zoro laughed. "Don't' worry Raven, I'm sure Eyebrows smells worse then you."

Sanji glared at Zoro then faced Raven. "Why didn't you call us or anything? We could have helped you maybe…?" Here it was, what was Raven going to say?

"Well, I thought you were mad at me. For… you know."

Sanji couldn't help but smile.

"What are you smiling for?" She demanded.

He squeezed Raven's hands tighter. "I was never that mad at you for that."

"Then why- you didn't text me for the longest time. You ignored me when I came over, you"-

"That was me." Zoro walked over to them.

"What?" Raven didn't understand.

"I told Sanji to ignore your texts and not talk to you so much when you came over."

"WHY?" Raven yelled. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"So that he could prove that you did like me." Sanji smirked. Zoro's plan had actually worked.

But their plan backfired; Raven made a look of pure hate and got off the stool. She swung her legs twice and kicked Sanji and Zoro in the crotch. They both grumbled to the ground.

"What was that for?!" Zoro complained. Then he gasped. "Oh…Raven."

Sanji looked up as well. Raven stood in front of them, in tears.

"Do you know how much I wanted to see you?" She cried. "After I broke up with Ace the first thing I wanted to do was see you." She seemed to be looking at Sanji. "But I thought you were mad at me or something, so I stayed away."

"That was kind of the plan." Zoro shrugged.

Sanji stared at Raven. He knew he shouldn't have done that. She was crying because of _him. _He had never made a girl cry, _ever. _

"I-I'm sorry Raven-chan. Don't cry." He tried to hug her, but she punched him in the face. "Idiot." She rubbed her eyes.

Sanji couldn't take it any longer. "Do you know how much _I _wanted to see you?" He asked her. Raven looked at him in confusion.

Zoro nodded. "Yeah, I had to stop him from texting you a million times."

Sanji nodded. "Yes. It killed me not to see you Raven."

Raven gasped.

"W-What?"

"Y-You've never just called Raven before." She gawked at him. "You've only called me Raven-chan.

"I…I guess I haven't. Never mind that, I _really _did want to see you. I' never did feel like being_… just_ friends with you, I wanted to tell you…" The words wouldn't come out. "I- I love y"-

Raven grabbed his face and kissed him, a proper kiss, not on the cheek or the forehead, right on the lips. Sanji forgot everything and put his arms around her and kissed her back. He forgot everything, even his name. All he remembered was that he loved this girl. He could hear Zoro laughing, but it sounded distant.

Raven stopped kissing him. "Y-You had me at Raven." She smiled brightly and kissed him again.

* * *

><p>"I told him that plan would work." Zoro laughed. He sat on the couch drinking his beer.<p>

"Yohohohoho! Girls can be played so easily." Brook laughed with him.

"What was that?" Nami glared at both of them.

"Nothing." They said in unison.

Nami rolled her eyes, and then turned her attention back on the Monopoly game. "Ha! That'll be 125,000 berries Usopp!" Nami yelled with glee.

"Aw Damn!" Usopp complained and handed Nami the money.

"Nami's winning I see. That's no surprise." Raven laughed. She walked over and sat with them. Her long brown hair was in a braid to the right side. Her face smiled with happiness.

"No, I've think I got her this time." Franky examined the board.

"I don't care if I win, I get to be the car!" Luffy stated.

"You're an idiot Luffy." His brother nudged him in the shoulder. "The shoe is much better."

"Car."

"Shoe."

"Car!"

"Shoe!"

"Shut up!" Nami punched both of them.

"I've got nacho's everyone!" Sanji walked over with a delicious tray of nachos. He set them down on the game board and Luffy grabbed the whole tray and stuck it in his mouth.

"Luffy!" Everyone complained.

"Yummy!" He smiled.

Raven couldn't help but smile.

Five months had past, and finally, Raven felt apart of the their friend group. She laughed with them as they played Monopoly together. She noticed Sanji walking back to the kitchen and she followed him.

"Are you making more nachos?" She asked.

"No. Luckily I thought he might do something like that, so I made another tray." He took the second tray of nachos out of the oven. "I also made a secret brownie for you if you want it later?" He winked.

"You know brownies are my favourite." Raven drooled at the thought of it.

"And since I made you a brownie." He leaned closer. "I think it would be only fair if you went on a date with me"

Raven rolled her eyes. "I told you Sanji, not now. We're over. One date was enough ok?"

"I tried." He shrugged and went back into the living room with the nacho tray.

Raven smiled at Sanji. She thought of the past five months and how fast they had gone by…

"Ya! 850,000 berries for the win!" Nami screamed,

"Damnit!" Franky complained.

Part 1: Ace (End)

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah, a five month time skip...I thought it was about time for one. Anyway that's all for today. probably post two more chapter tomorrow or so<strong>


	16. Chapter 15: Five Months Later

**Part 2: Fai: description.**

**After Five months a lot has changed in Raven's life. But some things still lurk under the folds of the past. Slowly the past connects with the present and the outcome turn ugly. Raven goes to Luffy and Ace's for a game of Clue, and finds Franky depressed… the reason? And right when Sanji thinks he finally won the girl of his dreams, disaster strikes. But worst of all is a mysterious young man who isn't as perfect as he seems to be, and he has his eyes set on Raven.**

**Join Raven now as those strings of fate continue to swirl around her as her life gets caught up in drama, betrayal, humor, love, and death.**

* * *

><p>Once the Monopoly game was over, everyone started saying his or her good-byes and heading back home.<p>

"I'll beat her next time, I know it." Franky grumbled to himself as he started walking out the door.

"Oh honey, no you wont." Robin sighed.

Nami and Chopper walked out the door behind him.

"Heh, that's five wins in a row." Nami smiled evilly.

"Ah! Nami's scary when she wins!" Chopper shrieked.

Ace and Luffy argued as they left.

"Car!"

"Shoe!"

And Usopp and Brook began a conversation about how the guy on the Monopoly box was creepy.

"He just gives me the creeps, I can't explain it. Maybe its his top hat and cane?" Brook wondered out loud.

"But you have a top hat and a cane!" Usopp pointed out.

Soon everyone was gone and the apartment became quiet once again.

"Uh, why does everyone have to come to our apartment?" Zoro sat on the couch that was covered in nacho crumps. "They make such a damn mess."

"Because I suggested it." Sanji brought a small sweeper and dustpan and started cleaning up. "Besides, why do you care? You don't even have to clean up after them." Sanji gave Zoro a dirty look, dirtier then the couch.

"Still." Zoro took a sip from his beer.

"And it was decided in the draw, remember?" Raven appeared from the bathroom. Sanji's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't believe how much Raven had changed in the last months since he had met her. Her hair had grown slightly longer and she had a calmer atmosphere, not so tense all the time. Still, Sanji could tell she was hiding something. "You guys got Tuesdays. Brook got Sundays"-

"Yeah, we watch the Walking Dead at his place. Which is kind of ironic." Sanji shrugged.

Raven continued. "Then tomorrow we have Clue at Ace's and Luffy's house."

"Which is still ironic, because they're both a mystery." Sanji shrugged again.

Raven laughed a little. "Well I should be going now too." She gave Zoro a hug goodbye and gave Sanji one as well.

"You know… you could always sleep over? My beds made for"- Sanji tried in the most erotic voice he could.

"No thanks." Raven smiled then left.

Sanji sighed dreamily. He heard Zoro sigh from the couch. "Your such an idiot you know that."

"What?" Sanji grumbled. "And just how am I an idiot?"

Zoro made big eyes, "Oh don't even let me start that list. What I mean is, I still remember when you were so nervous to even help her get dressed. Now you're asking her to sleep in your bed. How did you get over that?"

"Hm, I guess maybe just time? Over the months I started to get my manly charm back." He winked. Zoro pretended to barf.

"And maybe it was that date I went on with her." Sanji smiled.

Zoro laughed, "I remember that."

Sanji ignored him. He knew that after the date, he and Raven had sort of taken a break. But Sanji knew at least he was _starting _to get to her. Maybe that's why he had started acting different around her.

"Sucks that you didn't get any farther with her." Zoro teased. "Heck, maybe after you had a few dates you might have even gotten lucky."

"Shut up." Sanji felt his nose flaring. Even thinking about that made Sanji…

"Also you missed a spot." Zoro stood up and the couch cushion he was sitting on was covered in nacho crumps.

"God damn." Sanji grabbed his duster and pan and walked over.

* * *

><p>Raven entered her apartment. She changed into her pyjamas, which was a long tank top that went to her thighs. Then she walked over to her living room and sat down on her chair, staring at her painting. Several other paintings scattered around her against the wall or floor. All of the paintings were of completely different things. There were a few self-portraits of people Raven didn't know. Some landscape pictures of beaches, mountains, lakes, or a sunset. There were also a couple other random pictures of weird shapes and colours. All of these were paintings that people had asked for from Raven, and if she wanted any money, she had to paint them all.<p>

She had just finished a painting a little while ago. It sat on the easel in front of her. It was a painting of a couple; they sat on a blanket on the beach and were laughing and having a good time. The painting was beautiful and life-like. Raven hoped she could get a high price for this one.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Raven stood up and walked over, wondering who it was. She wondered if maybe it was Sanji again. Trying to tempt Raven with flowers or chocolates.

When she opened the door, it was not Sanji. The man looked like a butler. He had a black suit on with a yellow marking on each side. He had a stern look and round glasses. The man also held a bag in his hand.

"Hello. We meet last week." He declared. Raven remembered him, and she didn't really care for the guy. Suddenly chills went down her back. _One week? _

"I-I understand your painting is due today. Bu-But I haven't finished it yet." Raven tried to reason with him. "Give me three more days and I"-

"I don't give a damn." The butler let himself in. He closed the door and faced Raven. Then he opened up his bag and slid on two gloves on his hands. The gloves were furry, but at the end of them, were blades.

"W-What are you"- Raven started to run, but where could she run to? The man slashed his right arm and the blades scratched Raven's left arm. She looked down, five deep scratches started to bleed down her arm. Raven fell to the ground and moaned in pain. The butler looked down at her and raised his glasses with his hand, doing it so that he avoided cutting his own face. "Three days." He took off his gloves and put them back in the bag. Then walked out of the apartment and was gone.

Raven sat on the floor, breathing heavily. Then without a word, she got up and walked over to her bathroom. Then Raven took out the first aid kit from under the sink and started fixing her arm. She poured the healing alcohol on the cuts and it burned, but she let it pass and soon her arm was bandaged up.

She sighed, sitting on the bathroom floor. Why did her life had to be so hard? Yet, she had taken this job of her own free will. She remembered her grandfather telling her that a painter's life was stressful and hard. But she was soon starting to realize just how hard it was. She looked at the other injuries she had gotten from unhappy customers. She had a huge bruise on her leg, a fractured toe and finger, and a broken wrist. Did she go to the hospital for any of them? No. Mostly because she couldn't afford the hospital costs. With all the customers she was losing, her pocket money started getting small and smaller.

As if on cue, her phone rang. She stood up and walked over to her kitchen were the phone was on the wall, and she answered it. It was the landlord, Bon Clay.

"Hello Bon Clay, how are you?" Raven said miserably. She knew exactly why he was calling her.

"Hello Missy! I'm just calling to say that you still have not paid the rent!"

"I-I know. Just give me a few more days." Raven stuttered.

"Alright… I'm only doing this cause I like you, but if you don't pay it by the end of the week I'll be forced to kick you out."

"Ok, T-Th-Thanks." Raven hung up the phone. She stood in shock in her kitchen. The realness of her problem finally got to her.

"_I would have to move out." _That line repeated in her head like a broken record. Having to move out? Where would she live then? Grand Line Town was a busy place; she was lucky to have even gotten an apartment let alone a house. The next vacant place was mostly likely across town. Raven had never thought of not being a few feet away from Sanji and Zoro. Not being able to just walk over? What if she was in trouble and needed help? Raven just couldn't comprehend it. She walked back to her painting and stared at it, thinking hard. She wondered what Sanji would think if she told him she was moving. She figured he'd probably try to stop her in some way. She sighed happily, looking at her painting. Then, it hit her… the beach, the couple. The painting was a picture of her and Sanji when they went on their first date to the beach. She hadn't even realized it when she was painting it. Why had she painted this without even knowing?

She put her head in her hands. It had been a while, so she figured it was ok. She took a deep breath and let herself cry. Raven hated crying, she hated it so much. But she figured it was the only way to keep her from jumping off a building. Once in a while, she'd let all her feelings out and cry for several minutes. Raven didn't really know what she was crying about. It was more like, she was crying about a million things at once, letting everything out. Then, when she couldn't take it any longer, she'd stop. Raven had heard that keeping your feelings in was bad for the mind and soul. But Raven didn't care. It was better then trying to talk to someone, someone that had no idea what she was going threw. She didn't want to burden them with her worries and regret.

Once the tears had dried from her face, she went back to work painting and painting. She stayed up till three in the morning painting, till she heard a knock on the door.

"Who in the hell…?" She rubbed her eyes and went to go answer the door.

* * *

><p>Sanji drove in the night. He was one of the only cars on the road, seeing as it was three in the morning. He had gone to work at the Baratie after the party to make up for lost time. It was dark and eerier at night. Sanji made sure to walk quickly to the front door. He got into the empty lobby and then in the elevator. He waited patiently as the elevator gave his stomach a weird feeling. Then when he left the elevator and stepped into the hallway, he could still feel that weird feeling. He sensed that a lady was in trouble. Being the gentleman that he was, he got these instincts regularly. His thoughts were confirmed when he heard a scream.<p>

"Raven." He sprinted down that hallway and ran into her apartment.

He felt de ja vu. In the apartment, Raven lay on the ground, motionless. In front of her, a man stood laughing. He had a long coat on that hung on his shoulders, and purple-ish hair that went to his neck and instead of a hand he had a golden hook.

"C-Crocodile." Sanji couldn't believe his eyes. "What is one of the warlords...?"

"_Ex-_Warlord." Crocodile turned, his voice was deep and his face was murderous. "They no longer welcome me on that street. But my casino business has been booming. So I thought some _paintings _would brighten up the place." He looked down at Raven. "I'll give you one more week to complete my twenty paintings."

"T-Twenty paintings!" Sanji complained. "You can't expect her to do that in just one…"-

"Shut up you bastard!" Crocodile yelled. He grabbed Sanji by the collar of his shirt with his golden hook. "Don't disrespect me, you son of a bitch."

Sanji tried to keep his cool. "I'll disrespect anyone who hurts a lady… especially Raven."

Crocodile stared at Sanji for a moment, then let out a laugh. "Chivalry huh? You got a lot of spunk kid." Crocodile let him down. "But that isn't gonna help ya in the future. No one can protect this girl." He pointed to Raven with his hook. "There's big named people after her you know… some for the paintings and some are mad about how she disbanded the Mafia."

"What? How do you…?"

"Just watch your back kid…this girls trouble." And with that, Crocodile left.

Sanji ran up to Raven, who still lay on the floor. Sanji had worried that Crocodile had skewered her with his hook, but it seemed she had just been whacked around. She had several bruise on her arms, legs and face. When Sanji grabbed her and began to hold her in his arms. She started to stir.

"Sanji…" Raven opened her eyes. They had huge bags under them and were distant, as if her being was in two different places at once.

"Raven… what happened?" Sanji looked down at her with worry.

Raven winced at her name being called. Sanji remembered how she had kissed him five months ago, because he had called her Raven, not Raven-chan.

"I…" Sanji saw she was on the verge of tears.  
>"Look… we can talk about it in the morning… you should get some sleep." Sanji lifted her up and carried her to her bedroom. He walked in and set her in the bed, putting the blanket over top of her. He started to leave when he felt someone grip the back of his pants. He turned and Raven stared at her, her face bright red.<p>

"P-Please don't leave." She whispered.

Sanji stared at her, he felt as if he had just been told that every single girl in the entire world loved him. That's how he felt as he looked at Raven. She bit her lip and glared at him as if she was daring for him to say "no".

"Ok." He smiled. He walked over to other side of the bed and lay down beside her. He couldn't help but smile like a pervert.

"This doesn't mean anything, you understand." Raven turned around and cuddled beside him.

"Right." He chuckled softly. Soon the comforting of the bed and the warmth of Raven's body made his eyes heavy and he soon fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Raven felt the small scent of cologne. It also smelt like a little like hair products, which Raven thought was weird. She opened her eyes slowly.<p>

She lay next to Sanji in her bed. He still had all his clothes on, even his shoes, and he lay on the bed sleeping soundly. His face inches from hers.

She sighed happily, then caught herself and sat up. Raven tried to remember the events of the night. She remembered Crocodile, how he had come in her apartment and started beating her. Then she remembered Sanji, arguing with Crocodile and Crocodile mentioning how so many people were after Raven.

She shook her head silently. How was she going to explain this to Sanji? How could she do it without letting out too much to make him worry? Then again, he was probably already worried.

She looked over at him. He seemed so peaceful she almost didn't want to wake him. She lay down again next to him and stared at his face for a while. She reached her hand out and touched his eyebrow. Suddenly, his eyes opened and he looked around.

"Huh?" He turned and saw Raven beside him.

"Hey." She said casually.

"R-Raven!" Sanji was so surprised he fell off the bed. He got up and looked around. "Oh yeah… last night." Raven wouldn't meet eyes with him.

"W-What happened." He sat back on the bed next to Raven. "Why was Crocodile there…and he said that people were after you…."

"It's nothing." Raven shrugged. "Hey just wanted some paintings and I hadn't made them yet, no biggy."

"But he said that other people had been wanting paintings too, and the stuff about the mafia." Sanji looked straight at Raven. "Raven, are you in trouble?"

Raven shook her head. "No, don't worry. I'm fine."

"No your not! Why haven't you told us about this? And your money troubles you've been having"-

"How do you know about that?" Raven demanded to know.

"I was talking to the landlord the other day." Sanji made a disgusted face. He hated the landlord. "And he mentioned you hadn't paid the rent in over three months. H-He said that if you didn't pay soon, he'd have to evict you." Sanji had been terrified when he heard this news. Raven moving? It seemed like hell itself. Not having Raven so close to him would be torture.

"So you knew…" Raven sighed. "Look, it's my fault this is happening. I should have been painting instead of hanging out with you guys."

That made Sanji believe it was _his _fault not hers.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. You should go back to your place." Raven suggested.

Sanji gripped her hand. She gasped quickly and pulled back, but Sanji tightened his grip. "How much money do you need?" He asked.

Raven's expression turned to anger. "I said I don't want your help! This is my fault. I'll fix it!"

"I said… how much money do you need?" Sanji raised his voice.

Raven gasped by his sudden yell. "Sanji."

"You don't even have to pay me back." He stared intensely at her.

"W-Why? No. I don't want your money or your pity. You said yourself a while ago that you're not the richest person at the moment. Zoro told me that last months pay was all paid by him, and that you couldn't pay it."

"True." Sanji was going to scold Zoro for telling Raven things like that. Telling a girl you were broke wasn't the best turn on. "But I will help you. Name the price."

"No!" Raven screamed. "Are your ears painted on? I told you I don't want"-

"I WILL PROTECT YOU!"

Raven froze.

"Didn't I tell you that already." Sanji sighed. "I will protect you, even if that means giving you money."

Raven stared at him in shock, unsure of what to say. "S-Sanji." She whispered.

"Now come on." He got off from the bed and stood up. "Let's go talk to the landlord." He smiled.


	17. Chapter 16:(Flashback) Ace's plan

_~Flashback~_

_4 months ago_

Ace lay on the couch. He could hear Luffy eating in the kitchen, but he ignored him as usual. Ace had been like this for the past few days now. He sulked on the couch all day and ate ice cream, while watching disaster movies like "The Day after Tomorrow". These, and others, where the main things that followed after Ace went threw a break-up. It had been 1 month, 3 days, 14 hours, and 46 minutes since Raven had broken up with him, and he still wasn't really taking the news well.

Sure, him and Raven hadn't really been doing well the past few months. But that didn't mean that it didn't hurt when she came over a month ago and told him face to face. Then again, being told in person was better then a break-up text or something.

But he still loved Raven. After she broke up with him he came to realize how much he missed her cuddling beside him as they watched a scary movie. Or when she tried to make him breakfast in the morning and ended up burning it. And of course Ace missed the sex.

All these thoughts came in his head as he lay on the couch miserably. He also came to terms with the fact that he couldn't just lay here the next three months and whine like a baby. He had to get up and get back out there.

"Luffy, I'm going out for a little bit."

"Ok." Luffy replied in the kitchen, he was trying to put a whole frozen pizza in his mouth.

Ace figured that Luffy would probably break something or burn down the house if he didn't have someone watching him. So he called his buddy Marco to see if he could watch his brother for a little bit. Marco said it was fine and that he'd be over soon.

Ace went upstairs to his room to get changed. He put on a pair of long green shorts, and then brushed his hair and teeth. Once he was done that, he went back downstairs and put his shoes and hat on. He almost went to grab the keys to his car but stopped himself; he'd walk since it was a nice day out.

Ace walked outside. He closed the front door behind him and inhaled deeply, trying to get all that that day had to offer. But it was no good; he exhaled and slumped his shoulders.

He walked down the street in a good pace; the small breeze blew his hair to the left slightly and made him get goose bumps on his arms. After several minutes of walking he noticed the small coffee shop coming into view, Ace decided he'd get something to eat from there.

As he entered the coffee shop he heard a woman arguing from the front counter.

"Do you really expect me to pay 250 beli for this garbage?!"

"Please Miss, calm down."

"Nami, what are you harassing the coffee man for?" Ace walked up behind her.

Nami turned around. Her hair was in pigtails and smelt of strawberries. She wore her broadcast uniform as if she'd just come from work. "Oh Ace, I didn't see you there." Suddenly she made a face as if she got a bad taste in her mouth. "Um, how are you?"

"What do you mean?" Ace knew exactly what she meant.

"Here, let's sit." Nami gestured to a nearby table and a couple of chairs and the two sat down.

"Um, Miss? Aren't you going to pay for your"-

"Shush!" Nami waved the cashier away and looked back at Ace. "It's been a while since...it's been a while since we've talked." Nami took a sip of her drink. "Well at least just the two of us."

Ace wondered what she was getting at. "Um, I thought we agreed that"-

"SHUSH! I'm not talking about that…jeez." Nami's cheeks flushed. "I'm talking about how you've been doing since Raven broke up with you."

Ace's sadness came out with a big sigh and he laid his head on the table.

"Not good I'm guessing." Nami took another sip of her drink. "Then you probably won't like the next thing I'm about to say."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I heard that Raven was planning on going out on a date with someone."

"What! Who?" Ace exclaimed loudly, the other people in the café turned their heads in curiosity, than continued back to what they were doing.

"Who did you hear that from?" Ace said quieter.

"From Raven herself." Nami put her finger to her cheek as she remembered. "I asked her a few days ago if she wanted to hang out this Friday, but she said that she was going out with someone to the beach."

Ace considered this. "Did she say who she was going out with?"

Nami shook her head. "In fact, she seemed very mysterious about it, like she didn't really want me knowing."

"Hm." Ace wondered who the mystery man could be. Then a thought suddenly appeared in his head, if he wanted to get Raven back, another man in the picture wasn't going to help him accomplish that. He needed that guy gone.

"What beach are they going to?" Ace asked.

"Probably Angel Beach."

Ace went over his plan in his head, "Ok. I need you to go with me to the beach on Friday too."

"What?" Nami raised her eyebrow, "Why?"-

"I still want Raven back." Ace made this statement very clear. "But to get her back I've got to make her jealous, your going to go to the beach with me on the same day they are and when Raven sees me with you she'll get really jealous and then she'll like me again!" Ace thought his plan sounded flawless.

"I don't know." Nami shook her head in disagree. "I don't think"-

"Please?"

Nami glared at Ace, "No! Those eyes don't work on me with Luffy, and they don't work on me with you!"

"P-P-P-P-Please?"

Nami's lip quivered. "FINE!"

"Yes!" Ace smiled triumphantly. Nami shook her head.

"Sometimes is sucks to be cute."

* * *

><p><em>A few days earlier<em>

Raven opened her eyes slightly. She heard the T.V and the smell of food. She wondered why the T.V was on in her room and why she smelt food. Then Raven realised that she had no T.V in her room and sat up straight.

She lay on the couch in Sanji and Zoro's apartment. The T.V was playing old episodes of Criminal Minds and the smell of something delicious crept from the kitchen.

"H-How…?" Raven looked around. She saw Sanji in the kitchen alone; he turned to hear her speak.

"Your awake." He smiled.

"Why was I sleeping on your couch?" She checked the time on the T.V. It read 5:45 p.m.

"Don't you remember?" Sanji put the spaghetti on to two plates. "You came over and fell asleep on the couch instantly, you've been asleep since this afternoon."

Raven tried to remember. "I must have been tried." She had been up the night before working on her paintings and didn't get much sleep.

"Well, you're just in time for dinner." Sanji grinned.

Raven tried to stop herself from blushing and came over to the kitchen and sat on the spinney stools to eat her meal. "Where's Zoro?" She asked

"He decided to go to the gym." Sanji took a bite of dinner.

Raven nodded. It had been a while since she'd been to a gym, let alone looked at her weight.

The two ate in awkward silence for a few minutes. Raven suddenly remembered a few weeks ago when she had kissed Sanji for the first time. After, they both had acted like nothing had changed the next day and Raven was still confused on the whole topic, she wondered if she should bring it up…

"Listen…" Sanji looked straight at Raven.

"Yeah?" She said quietly.

"You know…we never really did talk about what happened a few weeks ago."

Raven's heart sank. He had been thinking the same thing she had. "Y-Yeah I know."

"Well, I've been thinking…" Sanji began.

"Yeah?" Raven looked back at him.

"Did you want to go out to the beach with me?" He said it rather quickly and Raven was just barely able to understand what he said. The words slowly made its way to her brain and she suddenly became very interested in her meal.

"Y-Yeah. I'd like that." She smiled, looking down.

Sanji beamed brightly. "Really!"

"Yeah?" Raven turned to him. "You ok?"

Sanji got up from his seat and jumped for joy. "Yeah I'm fine." He laughed. Raven laughed along with him.

Sanji sat back down quickly beside her, "How does Friday sound?"

Raven bit her lip. Friday was when she was supposed to deliver some paintings to customers. "Yeah Friday's perfect." She smiled.

"Great." Raven had never seen Sanji so happy before. It made her happy too.

The two finished their food and after he had washed the dishes Sanji went out for a smoke on the balcony while Raven went back to the couch to watch T.V

Sanji couldn't believe it. He had finally, _finally, _gotten a date with Raven. He had never felt so happy for a long time. Speaking of which, it had been a long time since he went out on a date with any girl. Let alone had…

He finished his smoke then went back inside the apartment. Raven sat on the couch watching T.V, alone. Sanji was feeling rather confident, so he decided to try something.

Sanji walked over at sat next to Raven on the couch. "Whatcha watching?"

Raven glanced slightly at Sanji, but mainly kept her eyes on the T.V. "Criminal Minds." She answered.

Sanji had heard of the show but never really watched it. "Hm." He leaned back at pretended to be interested. Raven seemed to loosen up and relaxed her shoulder and lay back on the couch as well. After a few minutes Sanji took a deep breath and spoke.

"You know…that kiss you gave me was pretty amazing."

Raven was surprisingly calm. She laughed slightly. "Really? You still remember what that kiss felt like? I kissed you like a month ago."

"It was one of those forgettable kisses I guess." Sanji shrugged.

Raven blushed wildly. "Well, I have been told I'm a good kisser."

"Really? So have I!"

"You're lying."

Sanji laughed. "You don't believe me? Though I have only kissed a hand full of girls they have all said that I'm an incredible kisser."

Raven smiled. "We'll see about that I guess."

Sanji felt his face redden as well. "We could figure that out now if you wanted." Sanji scooted closer to Raven on the couch. Raven turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" She said sarcastically. "You can't wait till Friday?"

Sanji shook his head.

Raven's head got closer to his. He smelt a small scent of her cotton candy perfume; it filled his nose slowly as her head was getting closer to his. He closed his eyes, ready for the second best kiss of his life.

"I'M HOME!" The door swung open and Zoro came walking in, a beer bottle in his hand. Sanji and Raven turned around quickly to face him.

"Z-Zoro your home." Sanji quickly got up from the couch and stood awkwardly.

"Uh duh, you can see me here can't you?" Zoro hiccupped. Sanji could obviously tell that he was drunk.

"I thought you were going to the gym."

"I did." Zoro swayed over the couch and sat beside Raven. He sat suddenly that it made Raven jump a little. "But then as I was walking home I past the bar and I thought I'd have a drink or ten." He laughed hysterically. Raven looked at Sanji with concern.

"Just ignore him." Sanji waved it off. Raven nodded but got up from the couch quickly.

"Ignore who?" Zoro asked who ever was listening, but no one was, so he past out on the couch a few seconds later.

"God damn he's annoying." Sanji rolled his eyes.

Raven giggled. "He's cute."

"_Cute?"_ Sanji made a face of utter disbelief; he'd never use "cute" as a word to describe Zoro.

Raven laughed again. "Your face is priceless." Her laughing quickly stopped and she looked over near the front door. "I think I should probably get going, it's getting pretty late. I've got some paintings to finish too." She shuffled her feet awkwardly.

"Oh ok." Sanji tried not to sound disappointed.

"See ya Friday." She smiled once more.

Sanji felt his heart skip a beat. "Y-Yeah."

Raven was soon out of the apartment and Sanji collapsed on the couch beside Zoro. "You cost me a kiss, you moss head." Sanji sighed at Zoro.

Zoro seemed to be talking in his sleep. "I can pay you now if you'd like." He made a kissy face in Sanji's direction. Sanji got up quickly, "Uh, no thanks." And walked away slowly.

* * *

><p><em>A few days later...Friday.<em>

Sanji was sitting quietly on the couch on a quiet Friday afternoon. He sipped his tea as his cooking show came to a close and the credits covered the screen. He checked the time on his phone and inhaled quickly with anticipation. Just one more hour till his date with Raven would begin. He figured it was about time he got off his ass and started getting ready.

It was then, that the doorbell rang several times. Sanji wondered who could be ringing the doorbell in such an annoying way, but he got his answer by the sound of three people calling his name.

"SANJI!" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper all screamed in unison. Sanji did not answer the door.

"SANJI! SANJI! SANJI!" They screamed again, banging on the door. Sanji still did not answer the door.

"SANJI!" The three burst threw the door as it flung open and hit the nearby wall with a slam. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper climbed all over Sanji and he fell to the ground.

"H-Hey! You can't just walk into the place!" Sanji struggled to get out from under them.

"But you weren't answering us!" Luffy explained.

"And it's an emergency!" Usopp added.

"Almost as important as an medical emergency!" Chopper chipped in.

"What is it then? Spit it out already!"

"We gotta use your T.V!" The three screamed.

Sanji was finally able to get off the ground. He stared in annoyance at the three of them. "You have to…use my T.V?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because it's the Phinease and Ferb marathon!" They all screamed at once.

"Don't you guys have your own TV's?" Sanji wiped the dirt from his pants.

"No. Chopper's cable is out. My TV blew up, and Ace won't let Luffy use the TV at their place." Usopp, Chopper and Luffy gave Sanji puppy dog eyes.

Sanji gave in. "Fine."

The three cheered in glee and hugged Sanji. Then quickly ran to the television. Sanji sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he remembered about his date and quickly ran to his room to get ready as quick as he could. No more then 20 minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get"- Usopp began but Sanji charged threw the hall and ran to the door first. He wore green and blue swim shorts with a thin short-sleeve button shirt and a black fedora on his head.

"I've got it." He said promptly and opened the door.

Raven stood grinning on the hallway. She wore bright yellow overalls that were short legged like a pair of shorts and the straps were lower so they stopped at her waist and you could just make out her sparkly blue bikini top. Her hair was straightened and she had a beach bag in her hand. "You ready?"

Sanji shuttered wildly, he couldn't believe it. He was actually going on a date with Raven, finally! And she looked so cute he nearly died of a heart attack.

"You ok?" She asked.

"Y-Yeah. Just let met get my stuff, come on in." He ushered her in and then grabbed his bag from the kitchen counter

"What are you guys watching?" She asked Luffy.

Luffy turned to her and smiled widely. "Phinease and Ferb Marathon!" Suddenly him, Usopp and Chopper all stood up from the couch and started singing the theme song. Raven laughed hysterically and even Sanji smiled a bit. Then he remembered that his date was more important.

"Look, me and Raven are going out so don't do anything stupid. Zoro should be here in a little while." He told the three. The all agreed blankly as their eyes were glued to the TV.

"Shall w-we go?" Sanji tried to hide his excitement.

"Yeah." Raven blushed and looked at the ground for a moment, than the two were out the door.

Luffy's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry."

"Maybe Sanji has some food." Usopp said.

"I'll go look." Luffy walked over to the kitchen.


	18. Chapter 17: Clue

"Thanks by the way." Raven said quietly. She sat in the passenger seat of Sanji's car. She wore a simple light blue, V-neck t-shirt and grey sweatpants. She would have worn something better, but she had no money for the dry cleaners and so was running out of clothes to wear.

"I told you, it's no big deal. And you don't have to pay me back either." Sanji reassured her. He drove calmly with a cigarette in his mouth. His blonde hair was neatly combed and he wore a black t-shirt that read "Gentle Cook" and his usual black pants and shoes.

"No! I don't care what you say. I'm paying you back." Raven glared at him, as if questioning him to disagree with her.

Sanji shrugged. "Ok, ok. You win, but if you can't pay me back all the"-

"I'm paying you back everything." Raven stated sharply.

Sanji decided not to argue on the matter anymore. He decided to change the subject. "Do you think your gonna win the game today?"

Raven's mood seemed to go back to normal. "I don't know…I'm not really that good at Clue. Last time I got in 6th place."

"So? Today could be different." He tried to get Raven to smile.

Raven lowered her head, no smile on her face. "I guess."

Luffy and Ace's house became visible. It was the last house on the end of the street. It was fairly big compared to other houses Raven had lived in. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house with a garage near the back of the lot and a big living room. Sanji parked a few feet away on the street and him and Raven got out of the car.

"Are you ok?" Sanji asked Raven.

Raven's expression didn't change. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well"-

"Look, we're already here. Can we talk about this later?" Raven's tone of voice gave Sanji the chills.

"Uh, Y-Yeah." He decided not to ask her again.

The two arrived on the doorstep and Sanji rung the doorbell. A few moments later Ace answered the door. He smiled at the two, "Come on in."

The front hall of the house was smaller with the staircase directly to your right as soon as you entered the house. To the left was the living room with three big couches and two more love seats, along with a large 60inch Smart TV. Going straight from the front door down a small hallway was the kitchen and a small bathroom connecting the kitchen and living room. The bedrooms and second bathroom were all on the second floor.

"Wait, I thought Zoro was with you guys?" Ace looked behind Raven as she closed the door behind her.

"He's coming later." Sanji said.

"Uh, ok. Why is he gonna be late?" Ace asked.

Raven and Sanji both looked at each other for a split second, then Sanji answered. "Hey has to stay an extra hour or so at the Dojo."

Ace seemed to not like it, but he accepted the answer. "Ok."

Just as Sanji and Raven removed their shoes, they both heard a loud shout from the top of the staircase. "SANJI!"  
>"Huh?" Sanji didn't have time to react. Luffy came flying from the top of the stairs and landed right on Sanji.<p>

"YOUR GONNA MAKE FOOD, RIGHT SANJI?!" Luffy asked jittery. Raven stood there laughing.

" Get off of me!" Sanji pushed Luffy away and got back up. "Didn't your brother say we were having pizza?"

"I know…it's just been so long since I've had some of your food." Luffy sighed heavily.

Sanji smiled at the compliment. "You can come over later and I'll make you something ok?"

'Really! Hooray!" Luffy gave Sanji a hug and then bounced down the hall. Sanji was surprised by the hug; he blushed for just a moment. Looking over at Raven, he saw that she was smiling at him.

"W-What?" He asked.

"Nothing." Raven smiled for a few moments more, then it disappeared again and she walked off into the living room. Sanji walked straight ahead into the kitchen. Ace and Franky leaned against the counters talking. Ace noticed Sanji and pointed to the fridge.

"Beer?" He asked.

"No thanks." Sanji shook his head. "What are you guys doing?"

"Just waiting for everyone to get here already so we can get this game started." Ace sighed and sipped his beer.

"But Franky, shouldn't you be hanging around with Robin-chan?" Sanji asked.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Franky sounded offended.

"N-Nothing, its just that usually"-

"Well _usually _I can decide what I want to do myself, I don't need to hang behind a woman twenty-four seven!" Franky flipped his sunglasses up and glared at Sanji.

"R-Right. Sorry." Sanji didn't know what everyone's deal was, first Raven, now Franky?

"Well hopefully the other girls hurry it up. I don't wanna have to start the game without them." Ace mentioned.

Sanji went into a daze. "Ahhh, Nami-swan." He said dreamily. Ace and Franky rolled their eyes.

"I thought you and Raven were a thing for a while." Franky sipped his cola. "What happen to that anyway?"

Sanji noticed Ace staring at him. He pretended not to notice. "Oh that." Sanji pretended to act as casual as normal. "We went on one date yeah. We just haven't gone on a another one yet."

"So you're not dating?" Franky wondered.

"N-No." Sanji tried to not sound disappointed, but he couldn't help it. "I'm still trying though." He added. Franky seemed to be satisfied by that and he just nodded quietly. Ace glared once more at Sanji then sipped his beer again.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Sanji's perv senses went off. He raced down the hallway before anyone else and answered the door.

"NAMI-SWAN! NOJIKO-CHAN! VIVI-CHAN!" He welcomed them with open arms but Nami just shoved Sanji out of the way.

"Yes, yes, hey Sanji." Nami rolled her eyes. Her, Nojiko, and Vivi went to the living room and began chatting with Robin and Raven. A few minutes later Chopper, Brook and Usopp arrived and the game was ready to start.

* * *

><p>"Alright. Hand over your straw hat, Luffy." Nami held out her hand. Her hair was just normal today and she wore a green sweater with a short blue skirt and brown boots. Raven felt a twitch of jealously; she wished she had expensive good-looking clothes like that. Luffy past her his hat and Nami walked over to the kitchen, coming back with the hat filled with little white papers with everyone's names on them.<p>

"Ok, everyone knows how this works. Since there are so many people and not enough players to play Clue, we go into partners and have different rounds." Nami made sure everyone understood. "Good, now for the people playing the first round, choose a name from the hat and that'll be your partner."

So one by one the hat was passed around and people picked who their partner was. Vivi picked Nami, Brook picked Chopper, and Franky surprisingly picked Robin. Luffy picked Ace (to Ace's disappointment) and Raven picked…

"Sanji." She said the name slowly as if she couldn't read the word properly. Then when she realized whose name she said she blinked.

"S-Sanji." She said the name again. Raven looked around and spotted Sanji sitting on the other couch near her. He seemed just as surprised as she was, but his surprised face soon turned into a perverted one.

"Don't worry Raven, we'll win for sure!" He danced over and sat his butt down beside her and made what looked like a duck face. Raven just couldn't believe her luck. She just had to remember, not to give in. She couldn't deal with any romantic involvement with anyone at the moment. She needed to focus on her paintings and any romantic interest that she got would just get in the way. She didn't need that.

Raven past the hat to Usopp who got Nojiko and once all the partners were settled there was a five-minute set up till the game.

"So Raven what's our plan?" Sanji asked enthusiastically and looked like a young puppy dog waging his tail.

"I don't know, you think of something." Raven got up from her seat. "I'm going to get a piece of pizza before the game starts." She walked away, but Sanji tailed after her.

"Come on Raven! We can win!" He seemed to imagine the two of them winning and made a pervy face. Raven didn't want to know what he was thinking of. She entered the kitchen and grabbed a slice.

"Look…if we're going to win you have to do exactly as I say." She demanded.

"Of course!" Sanji said without a doubt.

"So I want you to stay quiet and let me do all the work."

"Aye sir! B-But…" Sanji looked at Raven sceptically. "You sure?"

"Yeah, trust me." Raven tried to make the cutest face she could.

Sanji seemed to have a mini heart attack. His face became instantly red. "S-Sure." He walked away stiffly.

"Ok everyone! The game's gonna start, get your asses over here!" Nami called out. Everyone gathered around in the living room and took a seat on one of the couches surrounded a wide table that the board game was placed on. Sanji took a seat beside Raven and was about to speak when Raven interrupted him.

"And no talking." She added.

Sanji made the motion of pretending to zip his lips together.

The game started with round one that was won by Chopper and Brook. Round two was won by Nami and Vivi, while the third round was won by Chopper and Brook again. Then Raven and Sanji won the fourth round while Franky and Robin won the fifth.

"Damn, you guys are on a roll aren't you?" Franky shook his head looking at the game board.

"I guess we're just using our brains!" Chopper said happily.

"Even though I don't have a"- Brook started, but was interrupted by a smack from Nami.

"Ok everyone, let's take a little break. Nobody touch the game board." Nami instructed and with that everyone got up to go use the washroom and have another slice of slightly cold pizza.

Sanji glanced over at Raven. She sat comfortable in the couch beside him, but he knew that something was up with her. Lately she had been acting weird, even weirder since the crocodile incident. Sanji tried to talk to her about it several times, but whenever he brought it up Raven would shoot him down. Than, as he glanced at her face, he noticed something was different about her. Raven's face shined in the light and Sanji realised that Raven had make-up on, and a lot of it. This surprised Sanji because he knew Raven almost never wore make-up, especially for something as normal as just a game of Clue. He wondered why she had so much make-up on. Suddenly Raven turned to look at him.

"Why are you staring at me?" She glared.

"I-I wasn't." Sanji stuttered.

"Yes you were. Why?" Raven glared at him more deeply.

"Uh…I was just going to say that you did good on the fourth round." He smiled widely.

His smile seemed to smooth Raven's mood only slightly. She sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should let you play huh?"

"N-No. You don't have to do that. I like watching." Sanji nodded quickly.

"No…I don't know what I was thinking." She paused and gazed at the nothingness in front of her.

Sanji decided it was a better time then any to ask. "R-Raven." He swallowed. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Raven snapped out of her daze, she looked at Sanji cautiously. "O-Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? What are you talking about?"

Sanji leaned closer so that only Raven could hear him. "Is anyone coming after you? Are you in trouble?"

Sanji could see Raven's anger build up in her gorgeous brown eyes. She stood up hastily and regarded Sanji. "I don't have to tell you anything! It's none of your business!"

He noticed the others around him looking at him and Raven with wonder. "I-I was just asking, I'm worried about"-

"I don't need you to be worried about me! I don't need anyone to be worried about me, I can take care of myself!" Raven turned around to storm off but Sanji didn't want her to go. He needed to find out what was wrong with her, he promised.

Sanji went to grab for her arm but missed and grabbed her hand. Raven froze on the spot and turned around, staring at Sanji. Then she glanced down at her hand in his and pulled away furiously. "Don't touch me." She said with so much misguided hate, Sanji nearly fell of his seat. Raven stomped off into the washroom and slammed the door.

Sanji seemed to have tunnel vision, but when it cleared away he saw that everyone was staring at him. He got up and walked off to the back porch.

* * *

><p>Raven stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She touched her face with a finger and then looked at it apprehensively. Her finger was covered in foundation. She gazed back at the mirror closely and saw that the dark bags under he eyes were starting to become visible. Raven pulled out some make-up from her pocket and starting applying more under her eyes to hide the dark spots. She didn't need anyone seeing them. She didn't need anyone worrying about her.<p>

As she looked at herself once more, she noticed her eyes were also starting to redden from the lack of sleep. She wondered if maybe she could get some contacts of some sort to hide it. She washed her hands and put the make-up back in her pocket.

"Damn that moron." She whimpered.

Raven didn't want anyone holding her hand and telling her it was going to be alright. Her whole life she had taken care of things herself ever since her grandfather died at her young age of twelve. She had always stayed strong without having to rely on anyone but herself. Sure, she liked having the company, but Raven couldn't give in to emotion. She had to stay strong. Maybe, when she had been caught up with all her orders, then she could let someone in, like Sanji. But not now, Raven didn't want him getting involved anymore, bad enough he had paid off her loan.

Finally Raven stepped out of the bathroom. She looked around in the living room and saw that no one was there but Franky. Franky sat quietly alone with his shoulder drooped. She sensed that something was wrong with him.

"H-Hey." She sat down next to him. Franky regarded her, but then looked away again. "What is it, missy?"

Raven sighed. "Are you alright, you seem kind of down?"

Franky smiled slightly. "You askin' me what's wrong? Girl, you got some heart."

Raven didn't' understand. "What?"

"Never mind." Franky glanced into the kitchen, Robin stood there with Nami and the other girls talking about.

"I'm kind of in a fight with Robin." He said at last.

Raven was surprised. "Really? I've never noticed any tension between you two." And it was true; out of all the couples she had seen. Franky and Nico Robin was the couple she looked up to. They always seemed so happy with each other, so in love.

"Well there's been some tension." Franky sighed heavily.

"What were you fighting about?" Raven dared to ask.

"I don't even know anymore." Franky made a dazed look that was all too familiar to Raven.

"Do you love her?" Raven asked.

"What kind of question is that, of course I do." Franky seemed offended, he blushed.

Raven ignored him. "Then no matter how much you guys fight, you gotta make sure you still love each other."

Franky stared at her.

"When I was very young, my grandfather told me that when I met my guy, to make sure that no matter how much we fought, that I always made sure to apologise for my mistakes." She seemed to be speaking the words to herself along with Franky.

"He said because a painters life is fragile just like their paintings, if even a smudge gets on the painting its ruined right? Well the same goes for the person who painted it. If they even make one bad decision in life, it could mess them up for worse. So when you meet that special someone, make sure to never let them get away."

Franky stared at Raven in awe. She seemed to forget she was talking to him and shook her head slightly.

If only she'd taken that advice a while ago. Not about the special someone thing, but about her paintings. She was always hanging around with Zoro and Sanji and everyone, but that had caused her so much pain she wondered if this was all a mistake. Raven wondered if her life would have been happier if she had never met Sanji at all.

"Your right." Franky nodded.

"Hm?"

"I can't just sit here and potentially lose the woman of my dreams." He got up and walked away.

Raven didn't seem to notice. She stared into nothingness. "If I never met him." She said quietly.


	19. Chapter 18:(Flashback) Sanji's date

**Just a little heads up. The next couple chapter will concern Raven mostly. But soon there will be a "how the straw hats met as kids chapter" also a little ways later then there comes a point in time when Raven is ...lets just say...unable to get her point of view across. Its then that I will be checking on each of the straw hats in their own chapters before going back to the Sanji/Raven storyline. **

* * *

><p><em>~Flashback~<em>

"Here we are." Sanji smiled brightly.

The sky shined brightly over Angel Beach. Once in a while a little breeze would go by and move the trees branches slightly. The beach was busy today and there were few clear spots left. It seemed most people had the same idea to have one more beach visit before it turned too cold due to the fall.

Sanji parked the car and went over to open the door for Raven. Then he opened the trunk and grabbed all their things.

"Do you need any help?" Raven smiled at Sanji struggling with all the bags.

"N-No, I'm fine really. I'd never ask a woman to carry anything." Sanji stumbled and a bag fell out of his reach and onto the ground.

"Well I'm your ordinary woman am I?" Raven grabbed the dropped bag. "Let's go."

Sanji saw this as odd. Usually his dates took advantage of him and made him carry everything and do everything. As he walked behind Raven he wondered how this date would turn out. He wanted everything to be perfect. He couldn't mess up.

"Here's a good spot." Raven stopped so suddenly Sanji almost ran into her. He looked around as to where they had stopped. It was a perfect clear spot close to the water, but also close to the snack bar a few feet away behind them.

"Nice." Sanji dropped their things and started setting up their spot. As he did so, he noticed Raven staring off into the sea with uneasiness.

"You alright?" He said as he laid out the blanket.

"Huh? Oh yeah, just-nothing." She smiled.

Sanji thought maybe he had done something wrong. He smiled back to her and continued to set up their spot with a large sun umbrella.

"Did you want the chairs?" Sanji pulled out some portable chairs from his bag.

Raven thought about this and shook her head. "Naw, I'd rather just sit on the blanket."

Sanji agreed and put the chair back. It was then that he heard yelling from a distance.

"Father! Three more people want to ride the wavers!"

"Did you tell them it was 30,000 extols?"

"Yeah, they said they didn't have that currency."

"Oh right, I keep forgetting the laws have changed. Tell them that's 3000 beli."

"Alright."

Raven looked over at Sanji. "What is it? Do you know those people?"

Sanji checked around the beach to see where the voices were coming from. "That voice"- Suddenly he spotted her. "Conis-chan!" He called out.

Conis looked around and spotted Sanji, she smiled and walked over towards them.

"Who's she?" Raven asked.

"That's Conis-chan, old friend."

"Heso." Conis waved, as she got closer to them, he friendly smile made Sanji's brain melt.

"What did she just say- _Heso_?"

"Yeah, Conis-chan and her dad are from Sky city." Sanji explained.

"Oh." Raven as slightly confused.

Conis stopped in front of the two. She wore her usual lifeguard uniform when working around Angel beach. It was a pink shirt and her usual black bikini bottoms. Sanji couldn't help but stare and her slender legs for a few moments. Her hair was in their usual two braids and she had a harp on back.

"Hello Sanji. Who's this?" Conis asked politely.

"Oh, my apologies, this is Raven."

Raven and Conis gave each other a friendly grin.

"What brings you two to Angel Beach?" Conis asked.

"Just spending the day here." Sanji shrugged.

"Like a date?" Conis tilted her head slightly in a question. Sanji could tell she wanted all the details.

"Uh- yeah." Sanji nodded.

Conis didn't show it, but Sanji could tell she was displeased with his answer. "Well if you need anything, just ask me or my father. We run Angel Beach." Conis pointed behind her where her father was haggling some people on the prices of wavers.

"Ok thank you Conis-chan." Sanji smiled.

"Yes, it was nice to meet you." Raven added.

"Heso!" Conis said goody-bye and walked off.

Once Conis was out of sight, the two went back to their unpacking.

"You really do know everyone around town, don't you?" Raven asked him.

"Yeah well…I've been here since I can remember. I went to school with Conis when we were younger."

Sanji realised he hadn't really told Raven much about his past, and even stranger, he knew exactly nothing about hers. It was then that Raven's stomach grumbled loudly. He looked up and her and she blushed lightly.

"I'm kind of hungry." She stated, looking over at the snack bar. "Did you want"-

"Actually I made a few things myself." He took out a bento box from his bag. Raven smiled brightly. She sat down next to him on the blanket covering the soft cloud-like sand and the two ate together.

Once they were finished Raven sighed in satisfaction. "That was delicious. Thank you Sanji." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Sanji felt like he was going to mentally combust. He blushed brightly. "Heh, well I try."

Raven laughed. "You know, you try to act like a flirt, but your so shy…it's cute." She smiled.

Sanji tried not to die. Raven had just called him "_cute_". Nobody ever called him that. He tried to put on a brave face.

"Don't even let me _begin _to describe how cute you are." He chuckled.

Raven blushed. "I'm not cute."

"Your right, your just hot."

"Sanji!" Raven covered her face with her hands. Sanji couldn't get over how amazing she looked.

"It's true." He added slowly.

Raven didn't answer. She stood up and glanced around the beach in worry. He still didn't know what was wrong. When he was about to ask, she put her smile back on.

"Let's go in the water." She suggested.

"Uh- sure. Just let me pack up." He put the lid on the bento box and started putting things away.

"Oh who cares about that." Raven undid the buttons on her overalls and let them drop. Her blue bikini sparkled in the sun. Sanji stayed dazed at her for a few moments.

"What?" She asked.

"N-Nothing." Sanji made a personal note to make _sure _this date went perfect.

"Come on!" Raven started walking off toward the water.

"Just let me put these away, what if birds come and"-

Raven snuck up behind him and snatched the fedora he had been wearing from his head.

"Hey!" He complained.

"You want it come and get it!" She called back as she ran into the ocean, fedora in hand.

Sanji left their spot and went chasing after her. "Give it back, that was expensive!" He smiled. The ocean touched his feet and coldness shot up his legs.

"What?" Raven shouted from afar. She was already knee deep.

"It's cold." He complained.

Raven laughed hysterically. "Don't be a pussy, come on!" She turned around and walked deeper into the water.

Sanji sighed with a smirk and followed her into the water. After a few steps he got use to it and he began to sprint after her, making splashes as he did so. But it was hard to run in water as well as with sand under his feet and he tripped getting a mouth full of salt water. When he got back up he noticed Raven holding her sides laughing as hard as she could. Sanji's face went red with embarrassment.

"Are-you-ok?" She said between laughs. Sanji walked over and wiped the sand from his hair, even though his hair was soaked.

"Yeah." He sighed.

"Here." Raven held the hat in her hand, as Sanji went to reach for it she pulled back at the last second and put the hat on her head. Sanji scowled.

"Lighten up, I'm just teasing." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Sanji nodded casually, then out nowhere jumped at Raven and tried to grab the fedora.

"Hey!" She complained playfully.

The two struggled for the hat, but at the same time they laughed and smiled. Sanji went to grab for it behind Raven's back, but she turned around quickly. Luckily, Sanji anticipated this and stretched out his arm, grabbing Raven's arm that held the hat in her hand.

"Ah-ha!" He said triumphantly. Raven smirked. Then quickly went face to face with him and kissed him. Sanji went off-guard and let go of her hand.

"Ah-ha!" Raven imitated him and ran off into the water again with the hat.

"Hey, that's cheating!" He smiled and chase after her again.

Raven must have slipped on the sand as she ran; she went made a light shriek and went crashing into the water. Sanji chuckled and went after her.

"Not so funny now is it?" He said as he stood back up, soaked and had a piece of seaweed in her hair.

She laughed. "Yeah, I must have slipped." Then her face turned to shock.

"What is it?" He asked.

She showed Sanji her bare hands. "I dropped the fedora." She stated.

"What!" He screamed like a little girl, looking around in the water around them. "That hat was expensive!"

"I'm sorry!" Raven started searching around the water with him. "It was by accident."

"It's ok. Lets just find it." He tried to look threw the water, but they were now up to their hips in water so it was hard to see the ground below them.

"Maybe the current took it deeper." Raven suggested. She walked further into the water till her walking became swimming.

"Do you see it?" He asked.

"No." Raven swam under the water and disappeared from sight.

Sanji sighed and continued looking around. He hoped he didn't lose that hat. Nami had given it to him for his birthday present a few years ago. That had been one of the first times she had actually been nice to him. But what was he thinking? Today was about Raven, who cared if he lost some hat. He shook his head and tried to forget what he had just been thinking. Sanji turned around…

"Raven?"

Raven was nowhere in sight. How long had it been since she went underwater? A minute? Maybe three? He looked around him to see if she had resurfaced somewhere else, but he didn't see her anywhere. Sanji looked back at the beach, but he couldn't see her anywhere.

"Raven!" He called out again, panic in his voice. There was no response. He guessed that the only place she could be was under the water.

Sanji went to the same spot he had seen her dive and he dived down as well. Paranoia washed over him as well as the ocean. What if the current took her? He didn't know how good of a swimmer she was. What if she drowned? Sanji tried to get that image out of his mind as he swam deeper into the ocean. To his surprise, Angel Ocean was quiet deep. As he got deeper, he spotted colourful coral and fish swimming around. The fish seem to look at him in confusion as if to say, "_What's a human doing way down here?" _He ignored them and scouted the coral reefs.

Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw a large moving object zoom by. He turned around quickly. There in the distance he spotted a fishman. Sanji wondered what a fishman was doing around these parts. Usual they stayed in the fishman district, and then he spotted something even worse. In the fishmans hand was Raven. He had her by the neck and swam swiftly as she struggled to break free from his grip. She kept her mouth shut but by the expression on her face, Sanji could tell she was losing air, _fast._

Sanji swam back up to the surface and took the biggest inhale he could of air, and then dived back down under the water to have a talk with that damn fishman who had ruined his date.

* * *

><p>Ace wrapped his tongue around hers. Every so often they would release from each other to catch their breath, then continue. He wrapped his arms around her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. People past by them and would take little notice, and that was fine with Ace. He only wanted one person to notice, Raven.<p>

"Ok, break time." Nami pushed Ace away. She wiped the spit from her lips and looked around. "Hey, I thought you said they had made their spot down near the water?"

"They did." Ace got up from his chair and scouted the area. His plan to make Raven jealous by going to the same beach as her and her date was, and going with Nami so that Raven would realize how much she loved him and would come crawling back to him seemed like a perfect plan. Yet it had seemed that Raven hadn't even noticed that Ace had been there the whole time.

"Surprise to find out that her date was Sanji, huh?" Nami chipped. "I thought that Raven was better then that." Her tone of voice seemed almost envious.

Ace didn't say anything. He didn't want to say anything towards Sanji that he would regret. But you could believe him when he said that right now, he wasn't feeling the nicest toward his chains-smoking, perverted friend.

He checked around to where he had last seen Raven and Sanji. Their spot that they had made was empty. "Damn, where did they go?" He asked himself.

Nami glanced over at Ace, then walked over to her bag and picked it up. "I'm leaving." She said.

"What? Why? You can't, you said that you would help me"-

"Yeah I know what I said, but lets face it." Nami frowned. "Did you see what I saw?"

"I don't know what you"-

"Did you see how happy they were?"

Ace stared at Nami. "What?"

"Did you see how much they were laughing, how much fun they were having?" She put on her sunglasses and fixed her hair slightly. "I know that you still love Raven, but I think she's moved on. You should too." With that, Nami left Ace alone on the beach.

Ace couldn't believe Nami's words. He had to find out for himself what Raven felt, and the only way to do that was to talk to her. He got up and walked over to Sanji and Raven's spot.

Sanji soon caught up with the fishman. He swam with all his might, but he had to make sure that the fishman didn't spot him. So he swam behind the coral and the fish a few feet away. As he continued swimming, he heard the fishman talking to Raven.

"Boss has been waiting, waiting for a long time." He stated. Raven just glared at him, as she could not talk underwater as he could. "Boss doesn't like waiting. He said if I found you and you didn't have the paintings, I was to bring you to him at once." Again, Raven could do nothing but glare at the fishman with hate. But then her face soon turned to panic as she realized she was running out of breath.

"Humans are so pathetic." The fishman sighed. "I should just finish you off here, that way the boss wouldn't have to." The fishman tightened his grip around Raven's neck and pulled his hand back like he was ready to throw a homerun. When he swung his arm, it went to quickly Sanji couldn't even see it. He just saw Raven's body move threw the water with amazing speed, and crash into some coral.

"Damn!" Sanji thought. He emerged from some other coral and swam as fast as he could toward Raven. He grabbed her and looked at her face. Her eyes were opened, but only just, as she seemed to be losing conciseness. Sanji thought of what to do. She needed air; she didn't even have enough to swim back up to the surface.

Raven's eyes opened more as she sensed someone holding onto her, when her eyes adjusted she met with Sanji's eyes. Sanji stared into her eyes for a moment. Her dark brown eyes stared into his with panic and confusion as her last breath of air was exhaled.

With that, Sanji grabbed her arms and pulled her close, kissing her. Sending as much air onto the kiss as he possible could. Than used all the strength in his arms and pushed her up towards the surface. Halfway threw Raven seemed to understand what was going on and she began to swim the rest of the way there.

_"Please just stay up there."_ He thought. _"Don't come back down, I can handle this myself."_

Sanji hadn't noticed the large fishman looming over him.

"What do you think your doing, punk?"


End file.
